Phytochemistry, Antioxidant Property of Carbon Dots of the Biosoot of Datura metel

The medicinal importance of the plant, Datura metel, is enlisted as curing skin disorders, asthma, diabetes, heart
disease, epilepsy, rheumatic disorders and dental pain. Also, it is used minimally in medicine because of its toxicity, which
causes hallucinations, dilated pupils, coma, convulsions, headache and fatality in some cases. Research says the smoke de
rived from the Datura species acts deadly on organs. This created the curiosity for the researchers to study the nature of the
Biosoot, i.e. soot generated from the materials of biological origin. Biosoot are generated from the plant, Datura metel, using
open pyrolysis, and the soot was allowed to settle on the porcelain tile and collected. The Biosoot thus collected were char
acterized for their properties using DLS, XRD and FTIR for their characterization as Carbon nanoparticles (CNPs). The
presence of secondary metabolites in Biosoot of Datura metel and antioxidant potency was determined using a DPPH assay.
The DLS has revealed the size range of Biosoot as 144-486nm, XRD revealed the size range as 40 – 191nm and the nature
of CNPs as amorphous, and FTIR revealed the presence of C-H aromatic, C-H aliphatic and C=C unsaturated compounds as
its associated compounds. The Biosoot was evaluated for secondary metabolites, which showed the presence of Flavonoids,
Terpenoids, Steroids and Coumarin. The EC50 value recorded for DPPH was 18µg. The study revealed that the Biosoot are
of nanosize, possessing few associated compounds along with plant secondary metabolites and a high antioxidant nature as
they possess related compounds which can be used even as an antibacterial or antifungal agent. The other advantage is that
carbon nanoparticles are highly biocompatible. Thus, the CNPs synthesized in the form of Biosoot can can be potentially
used in the field of medicine/pharmaceuticals after proper evaluation of their cytotoxicity.