Humulus lupulus L. (Hop) Based Silver Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Characterization and Enzyme Inhibition Effects

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are well known to have antimicrobial activity, but very little is known about the effect of AgNPs on various enzyme activities. They (AgNPs) are valuable metal nanoparticles that exhibit exceptional properties compared to their bulk materials. Humulus lupulus L. (hops) is an important medicinal aromatic plant used in industry. It has many compounds such as phenolic, flavonoids, tannins, etc. In this study, green syntheses of Humulus lupulus L. based silver nanoparticles were performed. Accordingly, it was determined that HL-AgNPs gave maximum absorbance at approximately 450 nm and nanoparticle sizes ranged from 30.60 nm to 36.72 nm. The potential peaks of the prepared aqueous extract and HL-AgNPs were determined using FTIR-ATR. It was determined that the synthesized nanoparticles gave 2296.89 cm–1, 1161.05 cm–1, 1112.34 cm–1 peaks. Total phenolic content of HL-AgNPs was determined as 30.62 ±0.02 mg GAE/mL, and DPPH· radical scavenging activity IC50 value was determined as 4.4 ±0.01 mg/mL. Inhibitory effects of HL-AgNPs on α-amylase, α-glycosidase and urease enzymes were studied and IC50 values were determined as 3.10 ±0.01 mg/mL, 9.42 ±0.02 mg/mL and 0.76 ±0.01 mg/mL, respectively. The synthesizedHumulus lupulus L. based silver nanoparticles showed better biochemical activity than the prepared Humuluslupulus L. aqueous extract. It is clear that it is possible to use HL-AgNPs obtained by green synthesis in various biomedical applications.