Synthesis of Size-Controlled Molybdenum Nanoclusters from Vitex Negundo Leaves for Sensing of Epinephrine in Pharmaceutical Composition

Vitex negundo, also referred to as Chinese chaste tree, is widely used for a wide range of medical purposes, including the modulation of cellular processes like cell cycle, apoptosis, sperm motility, menstrual cycle and polycystic ovary disease. The fabrication of metal nanoclusters (NCs) obtained from medicinal plant extracts for the detection of biomolecules has attracted a lot of interest recently. In this work, green chemistry is used to synthesize cyan coloured fluorescent molybdenum nanoclusters (MoNCs) by utilizing extract of Vitex negundo plant as a capping agent. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) techniques confirms the structural morphology, size, element oxidation state and surface functionality of the V. negundo-MoNCs. With the addition of epinephrine, the emission spectral peak of V. negundo-MoNCs at 495 nm was drastically quenched demonstrating that V. negundo-MoNCs used as a sensing probe for the epinephrine detection. Moreover, the V. negundo-MoNCs-based fluorescent probe exhibited a detection limit of 0.46 µM for epinephrine, respectively. Further, the MTT assay was used to investigate the cytotoxicity of V. negundo-MoNCs on A549 lung cancer cell line. This approach was successfully employed for quantifying epinephrine in pharmaceutical samples.