Moxifloxacin-capped noble metal nanoparticles as potential urease inhibitors

Abstract

Silver–moxifloxacin (Ag–Mox) and gold–moxifloxacin (Au–Mox) nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by a rapid and convenient method, which exhibited good stability against variations in NaCl solution, pH and temperature. The structural features of these nanoparticles were ascertained by UV-Vis, AFM, FTIR, SEM and EDX techniques while EDX analysis revealed the inorganic composition of the synthesized moxifloxacin-capped Ag and Au NPs. Similarly, the stability of the nanoparticle complex may be attributed to the binding of the amino group to the silver and gold surface, respectively. Silver–moxifloxacin nanoparticles (Ag–Mox) exhibited significant urease enzyme inhibitory activity (0.66 ± 0.042 μg mL⁻¹) even 250 times better compared to moxifloxacin (183.25 ± 2.06 μg mL⁻¹). On the contrary, gold nanoparticles (Au–Mox) remained inactive to the same enzyme. Antibacterial assay was also carried out for the parent compound as well as its noble metal nano-conjugates, which gave encouraging results.