Green synthesis of gold nanoparticles from Prunus cerasifera pissardii nigra leaf and their antimicrobial activities on some food pathogens

In this study, a new and easy method for the biosynthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with Prunus cerasifera pissardii nigra (PC) leaf extract as a reducing and stabilizing agent was presented. The nanoparticles were demonstrated a characteristic peak at the maximum wavelength of 535 nm with colour change as a result of the ultraviolet (UV)-visible spectrophotometer analysis data. Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analyzes revealed that the crystal size of the synthesized AuNPs was below 20 nm and the morphological structure was mostly spherical. The size of the crystal structures of AuNPs was calculated as 17.94 nm from the X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis data. Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Spectroscopy results confirmed the involvement of various biomolecules in the reduction and stabilization of PC-AuNPs. The zeta potential of the synthesized nanomaterial was measured as -27 mV. The average size of AuNPs was determined as 103.8 nm with Zetasizer. It was determined that AuNPs have strong inhibitory activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtillis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans.