Synthesis and antibacterial activity of iron manganite (FeMnO3) particles against the environmental bacterium Bacillus subtilis

Zorka Z Vasiljevic; Milena P Dojcinovic; Jugoslav B Krstic; Vesna Ribic; Nenad B Tadic; Milos Ognjanovic; Sandrine Auger; Jasmina Vidic; Maria Vesna Nikolic

doi:10.1039/d0ra01809k

Synthesis and antibacterial activity of iron manganite (FeMnO₃) particles against the environmental bacterium Bacillus subtilis

RSC Adv. 2020 Apr 6;10(23):13879-13888. doi: 10.1039/d0ra01809k. eCollection 2020 Apr 1.

Authors

Zorka Z Vasiljevic¹, Milena P Dojcinovic², Jugoslav B Krstic³, Vesna Ribic², Nenad B Tadic⁴, Milos Ognjanovic⁵, Sandrine Auger⁶, Jasmina Vidic⁶, Maria Vesna Nikolic²

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Technical Sciences of SASA Belgrade Serbia.
² Institute for Multidisciplinary Research, University of Belgrade Belgrade Serbia mariav@rcub.bg.ac.rs.
³ Department of Catalysis and Chemical Engineering, Institute of Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade Belgrade Serbia.
⁴ Faculty of Physics, University of Belgrade Belgrade Serbia.
⁵ Institute of Nuclear Sciences Vinca, University of Belgrade Belgrade Serbia.
⁶ Micalis Institute, INRA, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay 78350 Jouy-en-Josas France jasmina.vidic@inrae.fr.

Abstract

Nanocrystalline iron manganite powder was synthesized using the sol-gel combustion process, with glycine as fuel. It was further calcined at 900 °C for 8 h, resulting in the formation of a loose cubic FeMnO₃ powder with a small specific surface area, net-like structure and plate-like particles as confirmed by XRD, N₂ physisorption, FESEM and TEM analyses. The metal ion release was studied by ICP-OES and showed that less than 10 ppb of Fe or Mn ions were released by leaching in water, but 0.36 ppm Fe and 3.69 ppm Mn was found in LB (Luria-Bertani) bacterial medium. The generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was monitored in distilled water and bacterial medium and showed that FeMnO₃ particles do not generate O₂˙^- ions with or without UV irradiation, but synthesize H₂O₂ and show an antioxidative effect. Besides the higher stability of FeMnO₃ particles in aqueous solution they showed an inhibitory effect on Bacillus subtilis growth in LB medium even at low concentrations (0.01 mg ml^-1), but not in BHI medium even at 1 mg ml^-1. This study points out that the mechanism of antibacterial action of engineered metal oxides needs continued investigation and specific experimental controls.