Plant material dependent synthesis of Dolerophanite/CuO nanoparticles and impact on the antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities

Copper oxide nanoparticles (CuONPs) synthesized via green approaches have attracted growing attention for biomedical applications particularly in combating antimicrobial resistance and cancer. In this study Cu-based nanoparticles were biosynthesized using extracts from Punica granatum , Teucrium marum, and Teucrium polium followed by physicochemical characterization and biological evaluation. While P. granatum extract yielded phase-pure CuO nanoparticles extracts from T. marum and T. polium enabled the formation of a Cu-based composite comprising copper oxide and dolerophanite representing the first report of dolerophanite obtained through a green synthesis route. Biologically nanoparticles derived from T. polium exhibited the strongest antibacterial and antibiofilm activities whereas T. marum mediated nanoparticles showed the highest cytotoxic effect against MCF-7 breast cancer cells with 30.50% of viability, followed by Tp-NPs (26.70%) and Tm-NPs (24.16%). Overall, these findings highlight the significant biomedical potential of biosynthesized Cu-based nanoparticles particularly the novel dolerophanite/CuO composites produced using Teucrium extracts.