Experimental approach: Biosynthesis of AgNPs was successfully achieved by using CTAE by eco-friendly and a cheaper method. In this study we used CTAE for biosynthesis, which reduces silver ions into AgNPs. The obtained AgNPs were characterized by UV, FTIR, DLS, TEM and EDAX analysis. They were further analyzed for their antioxidant, anti-microbial, anti-cancer activities.

Key results: The presence of biosynthesized AgNPs (422nm) was confirmed by UV-visible spectroscopy. FT-IR spectrum was used to confirm the presence of different functional groups in the biomolecules which were responsible for capping & reducing of the nanoparticles. Dynamic light scattering of the prepared formulations revealed all the formulations were in nano- range, F1 showed the mean particle size 239.1nm.TEM Analysis revealed that the size of the particleswere in nano-range of 20.38nm and presence of silver was confirmed through EDAX. The IC50 value of F1 indicated 91.30μg/ml for H2O2 scavenging activity and 102.43μg/ml for DPPH scavenging activity. Biosynthesized AgNPs (F1) showed good antimicrobial activity against two gram negative bacteria and one gram positive bacteria. MTT assay of optimized formulation F1 was compared with CTAE showed significant antiproliferative activity against A375 cancer cell line with IC50 for CTAE was 47.24μg/ml, where as for biosynthesized AgNPs the IC50 was 22μg/ml. Apoptosis studies of formulation F1 showed higher early apoptosis as compared to CTAE.

Conclusion: The biosynthesized silver nanoparticles (F1) showed good antioxidant activity, antimicrobial activity and anti cancer activity compared to CTAE. Keywords : Cinnamomum tamala; Silver nitrate; Silver nanoparticles; Anticancer activity; Anti-microbial activity; Anti-oxidant activity