Mono and Tri-cationic Imidazolium Salts: Use as Stabilizers for Silver Nanoparticles and Anticancer Study

In present strudy, the synthesis and characterization of monocationic 1,3-tetradecylimidazolium; [(C14)2Im]Br and tricationic benzene centered tris-tetradecyl/hexadecyl imidazolium bromide salts; i.e. [(C14)3C6H3Im]Br3 and [(C16)3C6H3ImBr]Br3 is reported. The stabilizer role of imidazolium salts to prepare silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) via chemical reduction method was investigated. To understand the reaction medium effect on the size and morphology control of AgNPs, monophasic (aqueous medium) and biphasic (DCM/H2O) approaches were applied. The morphology control was noticed for AgNPs protected with [(C14)3C6H3Im]Br3 (show sphere like morphology) and [(C14)2Im]Br (show dendritic structures) via biphasic approach. A clear variation in the size and morphology of AgNPs was noticed by varying the type of stabilizers and reaction medium. It was also observed that AgNPs were formed and stabilized only in aqueous medium in both approaches, thus it is assumed that AgNPs surfaces were protected by imidazolium salts with bilayer fashion. Anticancer activity of imidazolium salts was performed by MTT assay against HeLa cancer cell lines. The result shows that cytotoxic activity of tricationic [(C14)3C6H3Im]Br3 was more potent than that of monocationic [(C14)2Im]Br. The outcome suggests that there is an urgent need to develop new polycationic imidazolium salts for various chemical and medicinal applications.