Background/Objectives: Phloroglucinol (PHL), a phenolic compound extracted from the brown alga Rosenvingea intricata, exhibits potent antioxidant and anticancer properties. This study aims to extract, purify, and characterize PHL, and further develop functionalized zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) loaded with PHL to enhance its therapeutic potential. Methods: PHL was extracted using acetone and purified through Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography, yielding a highly enriched fraction (F-3). The purified compound was characterized by FTIR, HPLC, NMR, and LC-MS. ZnO NPs were synthesized, PEGylated, and conjugated with PHL, forming ZnO-PEG-PHL NPs. Their characterization included DLS, zeta potential, XRD, SEM-EDAX, and encapsulation efficiency studies. Antioxidant assays (DPPH, FRAP, ABTS, RPA) were performed and in vitro cytotoxicity on A549 lung cancer cells were determined to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of PHL. Results: The purified PHL fraction showed a high phenolic content (45.65 PHL mg/g), which was was confirmed by spectral analysis. The ZnO-PEG-PHL NPs increased in size from 32.36 nm to 46.68 nm, with their zeta potential shifting from −37.87 mV to −26.82 mV. The antioxidant activity was superior for the ZnO-PEG-PHL NPs in all assays, while the in vitro cytotoxicity tests showed an IC₅₀ of 40 µg/mL compared to 60 µg/mL for the ZnO NPs and 70 µg/mL for PHL. Apoptotic studies revealed significant cell cycle arrest and apoptosis induction. Conclusions: The synthesized ZnO-PEG-PHL NPs demonstrated enhanced antioxidant and anticancer properties, making them promising candidates for cancer therapy and antioxidant applications.

Calotropis procera produces a latex used in traditional medicine because of its components which are found to be biologically active. The latex of C. procera has many benefits such as pain reduction, antimicrobial attitude and other precious attributes. Latex lysozyme (LL) is a particular protein contained in C. procera plant having a promising antibacterial property. The process applied for extraction implicated ammonium sulfate precipitation, water extraction, ion exchange and gel filtration column chromatography evidencing 14.4 kDa for LL as a molecular mass. LL after purification showed 397.18 U mg⁻¹ as specific activity (10.30 purification fold), and with 37.9% as a yield. In addition, the chemical and physical analyses showed that LL had its best realization when the pH was 5.5 at 50 °C. Moreover when metal ions such as Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ were incorporated the relative activity of the enzyme resulted ampliflied. When a purification was conducted with CM-Cellulose and Sephadex G-100 chromatography, LL revealed an antibacterial property versus both Escherichia coli (MICs 14 µg ml⁻¹) and Bacillus cereus (MICs 13 µg ml⁻¹). HR-TEM analysis displayed an antimicrobial potential of LL after its purification; that analysis showed the deterioration of the cell wall (external membrane of the cell) of both E. coli and B. cereus. Therefore, the LL obtained from C. procera maintains ability as an antibacterial enzyme applicable in various domains such as biotechnological and pharmaceutical industries. Graphical abstract

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have attracted substantial scientific interest in biomedical research owing to their unique physicochemical characteristics, broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, plasmonic properties, and therapeutic versatility. Although conventional physicochemical synthesis methods enable controlled NPs fabrication, their dependence on hazardous reagents, elevated energy input, and environmentally detrimental processing conditions has stimulated the development of sustainable biogenic alternatives. Biological synthesis utilizing plants, microorganisms, fungi, algae, and purified biomolecules has emerged as an eco-friendly and bio-compatible strategy for AgNP fabrication, enabling simultaneous reduction, stabilization, and intrinsic biofunctionalization of NPs. However, traditional biogenic synthesis remains constrained by limited mechanistic understanding, poor batch reproducibility, inadequate control over physicochemical properties, and challenges in large-scale manufacturing. Recent advances in bioengineering have transformed this field through the integration of metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, microfluidic-assisted synthesis, artificial intelligence-guided process optimization, and continuous-flow biomanufacturing, collectively enabling precision fabrication of biogenic AgNPs with enhanced uniformity, scalability, and functional tunability. Furthermore, strategic surface engineering and functionalization have expanded the applicability of biogenic AgNPs across targeted anticancer therapy, antimicrobial intervention, wound healing, regenerative medicine, drug delivery, and theranostic imaging. Despite these advancements, critical challenges remain regarding nano–bio interactions, toxicological safety, regulatory compliance, and translational scalability. Unlike conventional reviews focused primarily on green synthesis approaches, this review critically highlights emerging bioengineering paradigms that enable programmable, scalable, and precision-controlled biogenic AgNP fabrication. This review comprehensively examines next-generation paradigms and strategies for AgNPs biosynthesis, elucidates the molecular mechanisms governing their formation, highlights emerging functionalization and biomedical application paradigms, and discusses current translational barriers. Forming biogenic composites of AgNPs and heteroatom doped carbon nanodots needs intense research in near future.