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Plant mediated green-synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and the bioactivity on pathogenic micro-organisms is discussed. In the present investigation, aqueous leaf extracts of a medicinal plant, Ficus copiosa was utilized to construct AgNPs. The synthesized AgNPs was characterized by Ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis), Fourier Transform-infrared (FT-IR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) spectrometer and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis. The phytosynthesized AgNPs exhibited comparable antimicrobial activity with two reference antibiotics against five indicator micro-organisms including two gram-positive (G+) bacteria, two gram-negative (G-) bacteria and a Protozoa (Pz). Study of the minimum inhibition concentration shows the two gram-negative bacteria to be more susceptible to AgNPs than the two gram-positive bacteria. The organisms included in the study are namely, B. Subtilis (G+), S. aureus (G+), E. coli (G-), S. pneumonia (G-) and T. vaginalis (Pz). Agar Disc diffusion technique was employed to assess the efficacy of the silver nanoparticles on the micro-organisms.

Latex of F. botryocarpa fruit is applied on skin infections in Papua New Guinea ethnotherapeutic practices. Systematic bioassay guided separation and isolation of subsequent fractions of latex extracts resulted in three bioactive fractions. Structures were determined by physical (M.pt and R f values) and spectroscopic (1D-1 H NMR, 2D-HSQC NMR, 2D-HMBC NMR) and MS ESI-POS. The two methylene protons (2H-1) and 2H-3) resonate as triplets at δ 3.59 and δ 4.99 respectively. Electron dense δ 4.99 (2H-3) on (C-3) depicts the strong electron withdrawing component, quaternary nitrogen (=N= +). Protons resonating at δ 3.88 and δ3.89 are singlets depicting two methoxy groups. Both δ 3.88 and δ 3.89 are para-aryls substituents. All isolates, (1), (2) and (3) were identified to be ficuseptine. 2D-NMR and MS of (2) found it to be ficuseptine chloride "2, 3-dihydro-6, 8-bis (4-methoxyphenyl)-1,2,3-trihydroindolizidinium chloride". The counter ions were not established and provide promising lead for further investigation.