Utilization of Carica papaya latex on coating of SPIONs for dye removal and drug delivery

Latex, a milky substance found in a variety of plants which is a natural source of biologically active compounds. In this study, Latex was collected from raw Carica papaya and was characterized using UV–Vis, FTIR and GC–MS analyses. Super Paramagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles (SPIONs) were synthesized, coated with C. papaya latex (PL-Sp) and characterized using UV–Vis, FT-IR, SEM–EDX, XRD, VSM and Zeta potential analyses. SPIONs and latex coated SPIONs (PL-Sp) were used in batch adsorption study for effective removal of Methylene blue (MB) dye, where (PL-Sp) removed MB dye effectively. Further the PL-Sp was used to produce a nanoconjugate loaded with curcumin and it was characterized using UV–Vis spectrophotometer, FT-IR, SEM–EDX, XRD, VSM and Zeta potential. It showed a sustained drug release pattern and also found to have good antibacterial and anticancer activity.