Curcumin as a novel reducing and stabilizing agent for the green synthesis of metallic nanoparticles

This review expands for the first time the development of curcumin as reducing and stabilizing agent. Curcumin is widely used in food industries, cosmetic domain and the biomedical field. The combination of green synthesis and curcumin to produce nanoparticles has been effective as the amount of toxic waste is highly reduced. Starting with a general introduction about nanoparticles synthesis and curcumin, the use of curcumin as a principal reducing agent and stabilizing compounds in the production of nanoparticles is developed. Consecutively, the preparation of different nanoparticles as gold nanoparticles (Au NPs), silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs), copper nanoparticles (Cu NPs), iron nanoparticles (Fe NPs), and manganese and manganese oxide nanoparticles (Mn NPs, MnO NPs) using curcumin is investigated and elaborated. The mechanism of interaction of curcumin with the different metal has also been developed. A concluding section summarizes the advantages of using curcumin as reducing/stabilizing agent in nanoparticles formation and their analytical applications.