Hybrid nanoparticles from chitosan and nickel for enhanced biocidal activities

Chitosan (Cs) is highly useful for its ‘tunable' function, hence allowing numerous optimizable applications in various fields, including the pharmaceutical industry. This has piqued the medicinal chemist's interest in developing innovative synthetic methodologies to produce a biologically optimistic pharmacophore. In order to design a highly environment-friendly artificial process for the production of Cs/Ni/NiO, hybrid nanoparticles (HNPs) were prepared by an inexpensive chemical synthesis method. The synthesized HNPs were characterized by XRD, DLS, and ATR-FTIR analyses. The morphology and elemental analyses of Cs/Ni/NiO HNPs were investigated using FESEM, TEM, and EDX procedures. Cs/Ni/NiO HNPs bactericidal activity was significant for inhibiting pathogenic bacterial strains, namely, S. aureus and E. coli. Furthermore, Cs/Ni/NiO HNPs exhibited potent cytotoxicity against MCF-7. The findings of the study on the biocompatibility of Cs/Ni/NiO HNPs on the L929 cell lines showed a non-cytotoxic tendency toward normal cells. As a result, the report demonstrated that the chemically engineered Cs/Ni/NiO HNPs have biological properties that are effective against MDR pathogenic bacteria and carcinoma cells. More research is, however, needed to ascertain whether improving the morphology of these Cs/Ni/NiO HNPs will enhance their antibacterial and anticancer properties.