The ability to produce biogenic metal- or semimetal-containing nanomaterials is well-known for a number of (micro-) organisms. Among them, several fungi have shown capacity to synthesise such nanostructures, once grown in the presence of a suitable precursor such as metal ions. This type of synthesis follows the concept of green chemistry as the use of hazardous chemicals is minimised.
The first part of this presentation is, therefore, dedicated to evaluate the process of synthesising selenium-containing nanoparticles after incubating different types of mushrooms (e.g. Lingzhi) with selenite. Spherical nanoparticles consisting of elemental Se were uniquely found in the mycelia. For their characterisation, a combination of single-particle inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (sp-ICP-MS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed the presence of particles in the size range between 60 and 250 nm [1].
Wild mushrooms, in this case Boletus Edulis and Boletus Aereus, are known to accumulate a number of metals. However, little knowledge exists about the presence and formation of metal-containing (nano)particles. By the use of sp-ICP-MS, the fruiting bodies were screened for several elements in order to trace potentially present particles. In fact, various metals were present in a particulated form as proven by complementary TEM experiments. However, the variations observed were enormous in terms of sizes, shapes, and elemental compositions.
[1] K.L. LeBlanc et al., Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 2023, DOI: 10.1007/s00216-023-05031-9
