The fabrication of metal nanoparticles through green synthetic pathways using plant extracts has increased attention due to low cost, benevolent methods, fewer hazardous byproducts, and applications. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized by reacting to aqueous root extracts of Rubus ellipticus Sm. (RERE) with AgNO3 solution (1 mM) at an ambient condition. The visual change of color from light yellow to reddish brown and the absorption peak at 416-420 nm in the UV-visible spectra indicated the formation of AgNPs in the solution. The shifting of the positions in the FTIR spectra indicated the potential role of the functional groups as capping and stabilizing agents. The powder XRD diffractogram exposed the crystalline nature of the nanoparticles. The surface morphology and the elemental composition of the AgNPs were established by the FESEM and EDX analysis. The TEM images revealed the spherical and monodispersed nanoparticles of size ranging from 13.85 to 34.30 nm with an average of 25.20 ± 7.01   nm ( n = 10 ). The biogenic AgNPs showed a better 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity with lower IC50 ( 13.83 ± 0.33   μ g / mL ) as compared to that of the RERE with IC50 ( 15.86 ± 4.14   μ g / mL ). The synthesized AgNPs showed higher zones of inhibition (ZOI) on the agar well diffusion method against Enterococcus faecalis (ATCC 29212), Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (ATCC 700603). The result of this study highlights the potential benefits of R. ellipticus root extract-based AgNPs for biomedical practices.

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Plants have long been considered as a basis of medicines for different indigenous cultures around the globe. They continue as a prominent source of important phytoconstituents which exhibit significant biological activities. In this study, we performed the phytochemical screening, estimation of total phenolic and flavonoids, antioxidants, and antimicrobial activities of the stem bark of Beilschmiedia roxburghiana Nees using different solvents. The total phenolic and total flavonoid contents ranged from 106.73 ± 1.62 mg GAE/g and 99.32 ± 0.66 mg QE/g (methanol extract) to 65.59 ± 1.79 mg GAE/g and 29.98 ± 0.90 mg QE/g (n-hexane extract), respectively. The maximum 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 39.86 ± 3.69 μg/mL was observed for methanol extract followed by aqueous (IC50 = 43.55 ± 6.16 μg/mL), ethyl acetate (IC50 = 44.30 ± 5.88 μg/mL), dichloromethane (IC50 = 71.50 ± 4.70 μg/mL), and the lowest activity was observed for n-hexane extract. The disc diffusion method revealed that the ethyl acetate extract exhibited relatively higher activity against Salmonella typhi (ZOI = 13 mm), and moderate activities against Shigella sonnei, Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Staphylococcus aureus (ZOI = 12 mm). The methanol and aqueous extracts showed nearly parallel and the n-hexane and dichloromethane extracts exhibited mild antibacterial activities. The results indicated that the polarity index of the extracting solvents amplified the biological activities of the extract. The study is helpful to support the validity of the traditional application of the plant as natural medicine.

Bauhinia variegata is well-known medicinal plant used from the ancient era to till date for their medicinal values. The methanolic extract of Bauhinia variegata barks was screened for phytochemical constituents, antioxidant, phytotoxic and microbial activity. The microbial activity was tested against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi at different concentration of 10, 15 and 20 mg/mL by agar well diffusion method. The plant extract showed the potent antimicrobial activity against the Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Bacillus subtilic and Escherichia coli with zone of inhibition 14 mm, 12mm, 14mm and 11mm respectively. Phytochemical analysis of the extract revealed that the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of the plant materials is due to the presence of active secondary metabolites. In DPPH free radical scavenging assay the IC 50 value of Bauhinia variegata was found to be 6.48±0.08 µg/mL, while the IC 50 value of the reference standard ascorbic acid was 45.93μg/mL. The extract of Bauhinia variegata, contains high value of phenolic (156.30±0.3 mg GAE/gm) and flavonoid (16.04±1.4 mg QE/gm) content exhibited the high antioxidant activity. The in-vitro phytotoxic bioassay showed 65%, 40%, and 25% growth regulation at just higher conc. of 1000, 100 and 10 μg/mL with number of fronds 07, 12 and 15 respectively with respect to standard drug Paraquat of concentration 0.015μg/mL.

Ethno-botanical inspired isolation from plant Scoparia dulcis Linn. (Sweet Broomweed) yielded six compounds, coixol (1), glutinol (2), glutinone (3), friedelin (4), betulinic acid (5), and tetratriacontan-1-ol (6). There structures were identified using mass and 1D- and 2D-NMR spectroscopy techniques. Compounds 1-6 were evaluated for their insulin secretory activity on isolated mice islets and MIN-6 pancreatic β-cell line, and compounds 1 and 2 were found to be potent and mildly active, respectively. Compound 1 was further evaluated for insulin secretory activity on MIN-6 cells. Compound 1 was subjected to in vitro cytotoxicity assay against MIN-6, 3T3 cell lines, and islet cells, and in vivo acute toxicity test in mice that was found to be non-toxic. The insulin secretory activity of compounds 1 and 2 supported the ethno-botanic uses of S. dulcis as an anti-diabetic agent.