Photo-bio-synthesis of irregular shaped functionalized gold nanoparticles using edible mushroom Pleurotus florida and its anticancer evaluation.

A green chemistry approach to the synthesis of gold nanoparticles using edible mushroom Pleurotus florida (Oyster mushroom) by photo-irradiation method has been attempted. The mixture containing the aqueous gold ions and the mushroom extract was exposed to sunlight; this resulted in the formation of biofunctionalized gold nanoparticles. These nanoparticles were characterized using various techniques like UV-visible spectroscopy; X-ray diffraction studies, Energy dispersive X-ray analysis, Field emission scanning electron microscopy, Atomic force microscopy, Transmission electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry. The obtained biofunctionalized gold nanoparticles showed effective anti-cancer property against four different cancer cell lines A-549 (Human lung carcinoma), K-562 (Human chronic myelogenous leukemia bone marrow), HeLa (Human cervix) and MDA-MB (Human adenocarcinoma mammary gland) and no lethal effect is observed in Vero (African green monkey kidney normal cell) cell lines.