A review on synthesis, characterizations, and applications of Schiff base functionalized nanoparticles

Nanotechnology has shown a promising future in material science for its enormous applications in the field of analytical, biological, catalytic, electroanalytical fields and so on. Recent nanoscience has given huge effort to enhance the applicability of nanoparticles (NPs) though modification or functionalization process, which makes its more sophisticated than the conventional one. In this modification process, nanoparticles (NPs) are stabilized or factionalized using organic, inorganic, metal complexes, and even with Schiff base (SB) ligands and their metal complexes. Schiff-base ligand functionalized NPs have wide applicability in catalytic process, antioxidant, antifungal, and analytical techniques due to enhancing of interfacial area between SB ligands and nanoparticles. The functionalized NPs have been introduced as a sensor for the detection of minute level of heavy metals, pesticides, and biomolecules. The composite materials have catalytic activities in a myriad number of oxidations, reduction, addition, and synthesis of organic molecules. The results revealed that the catalytic activities of the nano-catalysts remained fairly constant even after using several times in a chemical reaction. Besides, the biological behaviors of the SB functionalized NPs were prominently noticed due to presence of various functional groups, atoms, metal ions as well as nanomaterial. Even, the imine group (>C = N-) of SB effectively interacts with the cell of microorganisms, and inhibits the growth of cell. Schiff base ligands and corresponding metal complexes as enzyme inhibitor and potential antioxidants. So, this review study provides an outline about the applications of Schiff base functionalized NPs in catalysis, analytical, and biological applications.