Green synthesis of inorganic nanoparticles as anti-bacterial agents

Abstract

The need for novel antibiotics comes from the relatively high incidence of bacterial infection and the growing resistance of bacteria to conventional antibiotics. Consequently, new methods for reducing bacterial activity and the associated infections seem badly needed. Nanotechnology viz., the use of materials with dimensions on the atomic or molecular scale, has become increasingly utilized for medical applications. It has, thus, become great interest as an approach to killing or reducing the activity of numerous microorganisms. While some natural antibacterial materials, e.g., zinc and silver, possess greater antibacterial properties as particle size is reduced into the nanometer regime. The physical structure of a nanoparticle itself and the way in which it interacts with and penetrates into bacteria appears to also provide unique bactericidal mechanisms. This thesis is consists of two parts; in the first part, an attempt was made to prepare different shapes of inorganic metal oxide in nanoscale, namely (CuO, MgO and ZnO ) which were then used as antibacterial agents against Grame positive (Bacillus and S. aureus ) and Grame negative bacteria (E.coli ) .