Magnesium incorporated hydroxyapatite nanoparticles: Preparation, characterization, antibacterial and larvicidal activity

Mosquito-borne diseases cause several deaths every year in tropical and subtropical climate countries. Control of vectors is an alarming problem in today's world due to the resistance matters. In this study magnesium incorporated hydroxyapatite nanoparticles have been synthesized by microwave irradiation method. Magnesium chloride hexahydrate (MgCl2·6H2O) calcium nitrate tetra hydrate (Ca (NO3)2·6H2O) and disodium hydrogen phosphate (Na2HPO4) were used as magnesium, calcium and phosphorous sources to prepare hydroxyapatite nanoparticles. The FT-IR studies show the presence of hydroxyl and phosphate functional groups. The structural properties have been studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) and Transmission Electron Microscope (HRTEM). The energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) revealed the presence of Ca, Mg, P and O in the prepared samples. The antibacterial activity of the as-synthesized nanoparticles was evaluated against two prokaryotic strains, the gram negative bacteria Escherichia coli for three different concentrations of as-synthesized nanoparticles and they showed excellent antibacterial activity. The as-synthesized Mg-HAp nanoparticles were tested against fourth instar larvae of Aedes aegypti, Anopheles stephensi, and Culex quinquefasciatus and the nanoparticles exhibited significant mortality against the selected mosquitoes. The observed results suggest that the magnesium incorporated hydroxyapatite nanoparticles have the potential to be used as an effective mosquito larvae control agent against Ae. aegypti, An. stephensi, and Cx. quinquefasciatus. From the detailed literature review it has been observed that no work has been carried out so far on the larvicidal activity using hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanoparticles and magnesium substituted hydroxyapatite (Mg-HAp) nanoparticles.