Thymbra spicata leaf extract driven biogenic synthesis of Au/Fe3O4 nanocomposite and its bio-application in the treatment of different types of leukemia

Herein, the bio-inspired synthesis of Au nanoparticles (NPs) adorned Thymbra spicata extract functionalized Fe3O4 NPs as a novel magnetic nanocomposite has been demonstrated. The plant phytochemicals act as a natural and non-toxic reductant as well as the in situ stabilizing agent of the NPs. The Au–Thymbra@Fe3O4 composite was characterized over a range of advance physicochemical techniques like fourier transformed infra red (FT-IR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, elemental mapping, vibrating sample magnetometer and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy. Toward its bio-applications, the material was employed investigating the cytotoxicity and leukemic potential against several related cell lines, viz, 32D-FLT3-ITD, HL-60/vcr (acute myeloid leukemia) and MOLT-3, TALL-104 (acute lymphoblastic leukemia) in vitro, following MTT assay. The corresponding inhibition concentration by 50% level, i.e., IC50 were evaluated as 125, 150, 133 and 170 µg/mL, respectively. In addition, the Au–Thymbra@Fe3O4 nanocomposite proved to be a good antioxidant, which was validated from DPPH radical quenching assay and a significantly good IC50 value.