Ultrasound-Enhanced Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles from Embelia drupacea and Embelia schimperi Extracts: Biological and Mathematical Investigations

Resumen

This study discusses the ultrasound-assisted green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using the extracts of the plants Embelia drupacea and Embelia schimperi. The synthesized AgNPs demonstrated significant antioxidant potential and exhibited considerable cytotoxicity at higher concentrations. In the DPPH assays, AgNPs derived from E. drupacea were more active (IC₅₀ = 42.4 µg/mL) than those derived from E. schimperi (IC₅₀ = 46.47 µg/mL). The saline shrimp lethality assaysreturned LC₅₀: E. drupacea 74.4 µg/mL and E. schimperi 57.67 µg/mL. A differential equations-based mathematical model was developed AgNP synthesis kinetics, providing estimates of the nucleation rate order, particle growth constants, and critical size thresholds. Compared to E. schimperi, AgNPs from E. drupacea had higher bioactivity, with the nano-assemblies showing superior performance in polar solvents. In comparative analysis, AgNPs from both sources of the plant were significantly more active than the crude extracts, and an increase in bioactivity supports this observation. This points to the possible use of EmbeliaAgNPs clinically, particularly for their plant sustainability, and to their role in antioxidant and antimicrobial therapy for the pharmaceutical and therapeutic industries. The inclusion of experimental and mathematical modelling approaches to understand the process of synthesis is distinctive in this work and increases the possibility for optimisation in subsequent biomedical uses.