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From phytomedicine to photomedicine: quercetin-derived carbon nanodots—synthesis, characterization and healthcare applications

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Abstract

In this report, we present the hydrothermal method-driven synthesis of carbon nanodots (CNDs) using quercetin and further evaluate the effects of surface passivation on their physicochemical and biological attributes. The quercetin-derived CNDs (qCD) were surface passivated with polyethylene glycol to produce qCD-Pg. Firstly, the qCD was employed as a fluorescent nanoprobe that can selectively sense arsenic (As3+) with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.598 μM through enhancement in fluorescence emission. It was revealed that upon surface fabrication with polyethylene glycol, qCD lost its ability to sense As3+, but qCD-Pg selectively detected iron (Fe3+) with a LOD of 0.324 μM. The developed method was validated as per International Conference on Harmonization Harmonised Tripartite Guideline (ICH Topic Q 2 (R1). The applicability of the qCD and qCD-Pg-based sensing method for the quantification of As3+ and Fe3+ in a real sample (tap water) was also analyzed. Further, the qCD-Pg was conjugated with andrographolide (Ad) to produce qCD-Pg-Ad and explored as a nanocarrier for its delivery. These conjugates prolonged and improved the drug release, leading to an enhanced cytotoxic effect on leukemia cancer cells (K-562). Also, the qCD-Pg-Ad complex had a better anticancer effect on K-562 than free form and showed very low cytotoxicity to normal kidney cells (Vero), indicating specific anticancer activity to the leukemia. These CNDs considerably inhibited the growth of multi-drug resistant bacterial strains and exhibited significant free radical scavenging potential. These nanodots showed good thermal stability, colloidal dispersion stability, and photostability. Overall, the findings of our study demonstrated phytomedicine-derived CNDs as photomedicine with broad applications in biomedical and environmental domains.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Ministry of Education, New Delhi, and Central Instrumentation Facility, at the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) for their support. Authors would also like to thank Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research & Education in Cancer, (ACTREC), Tata Memorial Centre, Kharghar, Mumbai. ANS is thankful to the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India, New Delhi, India, for providing the funding for exploring phytochemical and pharmacological evaluations of bioactivity-guided fractions of medicinal plants (Sanction order No. BT/PR25498/NER/95/1223/2017). ANS would also like to thank Uttar Pradesh Council of Science and Technology for proving funding (CST/D-1163) for developing CNDs for oral cancer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmaceutical Engineering & Technology, IIT (BHU), Varanasi, 221005, India

    Gaurav Gopal Naik, Debadatta Mohapatra, Singh Shreya, Deepak K. Sharma & Alakh N Sahu

  2. Department of Physics, IIT (BHU), Varanasi, 221005, India

    Ravi Pratap & Avanish S. Parmar

  3. Department of Pharmacy, Guru Ghasidas University, Bilaspur, 495551, India

    Arjun Patra

  4. Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Yashwantrao Bhonsale College of Pharmacy, Affiliated to Mumbai University, Sawantwadi, 416510, India

    Gaurav Gopal Naik

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  1. Gaurav Gopal Naik
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Contributions

GGN contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by GGN, RP, DM and SS. The first draft of the manuscript was written by GGN, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. DKS, ASP, AP and ANS contributed to conceptualization, supervision, investigation, project administration, reviewing and editing functions.

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Correspondence to Alakh N Sahu.

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Naik, G.G., Pratap, R., Mohapatra, D. et al. From phytomedicine to photomedicine: quercetin-derived carbon nanodots—synthesis, characterization and healthcare applications. J Mater Sci 58, 13744–13761 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-08880-y

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