Síntesis y caracterización de agregados de plata a partir de extractos de nidos de avispas (Polistes sp. y Vespula sp.).

Abstract

The present research focuses on the use of abandoned wasp nests belonging to species such as: Vespula vulgaris, Germanic vespula, Polistes erythrocephalus and Polistes versicolor. To make extracts with polar solvents (ethanol-methanol-water), in order to take advantage of their bioactive compounds rich in proteins that have been shown to have antimicrobial, antifungal, anticoagulant and thrombolytic properties. These characteristics are attributed to the use of salivary fluids during the construction of said nests. The scope of the research includes the synthesis of silver aggregates, highly reactive particles with various biomedical applications, as active ingredients in medications that have shown antimicrobial activity, contributing to preventing infections by destroying viruses, fungi and bacteria. To reinforce these applications with prospect for use on the skin, the synthesis and liquid extract of each nest were stabilized in an ointment-type formulation. The proposed research shows the morphological characterization of the nests, the spectroscopic and chromatographic characterization of the extracts, subsequent synthesis of the aggregates and their size monitoring by UV-Vis, and finally the determination of functional groups by ATR-FTIR and thermal stability of ointments by TGA. These analyzes allowed us to confirm the effective extraction of metabolites in each nest, their ability to generate the reduction of silver from +1 to 0, the formation of aggregates and their stabilization in homogeneous ointments