Chaitali V. Surve

Nanotechnology is a flourishing technology and a promising approach for treatment and diagnosis of a variety of diseases. Gold nanoparticles have recently emerged as an efficient tool for a variety of medical applications. Gold nanoparticles exploit their unique chemical and physical properties for transporting and unloading the pharmaceuticals. The gold core is essentially inert and non-toxic, mono-disperse nanoparticles can be formed with core sizes ranging from 1 nm to 150 nm, further adaptability is imparted by their ready functionalization; generally through thiol linkages. They are particularly promising for their easy synthesis in various shapes and the ability to target them to interact with specific molecules. Gold nanoparticles are being manufactured from gold chloride solutions using reductive reagents, to form colloidal suspensions.The common methods for synthesis of gold nanoparticles have been enlisted. The current review elaborates on the emerging and eco-friendly biosynthetic methods to synthesize gold nanoparticles. The biosynthetic processes involve predominantly green synthesis by using plants and their extracts and also fungus and bacteria. The biosynthetic process proves to be a boon over the chemical and other synthetic procedures by being economic, non-toxic and compatible. Gold nanoparticles have found their application in countless fields involving medicine and biology, cancer therapy, gene delivery, environmental sciences and in analytical technology. The present review explains the versatile gold nanoparticles and their innumerable applications.