Influence of Drying Methods on Phytochemical Retention of Moringa oleifera Leaves and Green Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Using the Optimal Moringa oleifera Leaf Extract
- 1Department of Food Engineering and Tea Technology Shahjalal University of Science and Technology Sylhet Bangladesh.
Abstract
Green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) using plant extracts is an environmentally friendly approach; however, the influence of leaf drying pretreatment on nanoparticle synthesis remains underexplored. This study first evaluated the effects of air-, sun-, oven-, and freeze-drying of Moringa oleifera leaves on phytochemical retention, and then used the extract obtained from the best-performing drying treatment for the green synthesis of ZnO-NPs. Freeze-dried leaves retained the highest levels of phenolics, flavonoids, vitamin C, and β-carotene and were therefore selected as the sole precursor for nanoparticle synthesis. GC-MS and HPLC confirmed the presence of bioactive compounds responsible for Zn²⁺ complexation and nanoparticle stabilization. The synthesized ZnO-NPs exhibited a characteristic UV-Vis absorption peak at 365 nm with a band gap of 3.40 eV. FT-IR, XRD, SEM, EDS, dynamic light scattering, and zeta potential analyses confirmed the formation of highly crystalline, flower-like ZnO-NPs with particle sizes of 45-82 nm (hydrodynamic diameter ~67 nm) and excellent colloidal stability (-32 mV). The biosynthesized ZnO-NPs showed significantly higher antibacterial and antioxidant activities, faster radical scavenging kinetics, and excellent storage stability compared with analytical-grade ZnO. These findings demonstrate that freeze-drying is an effective pretreatment for producing stable and bioactive ZnO nanoparticles for food and biomedical applications.
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BibTeX
@article{rahman2026influence,
title = {{Influence of Drying Methods on Phytochemical Retention of Moringa oleifera Leaves and Green Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Using the Optimal Moringa oleifera Leaf Extract}},
author = {Tamanna Rahman and Fahima Siddikey and Md Hassan Bin Nabi and Md Abu Rayhan and Wahidu Zzaman},
journal = {Food science \& nutrition},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1002/fsn3.72443},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13717293},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Influence of Drying Methods on Phytochemical Retention of Moringa oleifera Leaves and Green Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Using the Optimal Moringa oleifera Leaf Extract
AU - Tamanna Rahman
AU - Fahima Siddikey
AU - Md Hassan Bin Nabi
AU - Md Abu Rayhan
AU - Wahidu Zzaman
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/29
JO - Food science & nutrition
DO - 10.1002/fsn3.72443
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13717293
AB - Green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) using plant extracts is an environmentally friendly approach; however, the influence of leaf drying pretreatment on nanoparticle synthesis remains underexplored. This study first evaluated the effects of air-, sun-, oven-, and freeze-drying of Moringa oleifera leaves on phytochemical retention, and then used the extract obtained from the best-performing drying treatment for the green synthesis of ZnO-NPs. Freeze-dried leaves retained the highest levels of phenolics, flavonoids, vitamin C, and β-carotene and were therefore selected as the sole precursor for nanoparticle synthesis. GC-MS and HPLC confirmed the presence of bioactive compounds responsible for Zn²⁺ complexation and nanoparticle stabilization. The synthesized ZnO-NPs exhibited a characteristic UV-Vis absorption peak at 365 nm with a band gap of 3.40 eV. FT-IR, XRD, SEM, EDS, dynamic light scattering, and zeta potential analyses confirmed the formation of highly crystalline, flower-like ZnO-NPs with particle sizes of 45-82 nm (hydrodynamic diameter ~67 nm) and excellent colloidal stability (-32 mV). The biosynthesized ZnO-NPs showed significantly higher antibacterial and antioxidant activities, faster radical scavenging kinetics, and excellent storage stability compared with analytical-grade ZnO. These findings demonstrate that freeze-drying is an effective pretreatment for producing stable and bioactive ZnO nanoparticles for food and biomedical applications.
SN - 2048-7177
ER -