A simple, efficient and convenient method for the preparation of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticle was described. Several parameters like size and morphology of the prepared nanoparticles were characterized thorough a variety of analytical techniques such as XRD, FT-IR, UV-Vis, SEM, and EDX. The prepared ZnO nanoparticles were successfully used as catalyst for the formylation of amino acid esters and biodiesel synthesis. Further, the synthesized formamide esters were well characterized through HRMS, 1H NMR and 13C NMR analysis and subjected for the in vitro antibacterial and antifungal tests and the results indicated that some of them showed promising activity against targeted bacterial pathogens.