Facile One‐Pot Synthesis of Tellurium Nanorods as Antioxidant and Anticancer Agents

Nanorods have been utilized in targeted therapy, controlled release, molecular diagnosis, and molecule imaging owing to their large surface area and optical, magnetic, electronic, and structural properties. However, low stability and complex synthetic methods have substantially limited the application of tellurium nanorods for use as antioxidant and anticancer agents. Herein, a facile one‐pot synthesis of functionalized tellurium nanorods (PTNRs) by using a hydrothermal synthetic system with a polysaccharide–protein complex (PTR), which was extracted from Pleurotus tuber‐regium, as a capping agent is described. PTNRs remained stable in water and in phosphate‐buffered saline and exhibited high hemocompatibility. Interestingly, these nanorods possessed strong antioxidant activity for scavenging 2,2′‐azinobis‐(3‐ethylbenzothiazoline‐6‐sulfonic acid radical cation (ABTS^.+) and 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazylhydrate (DPPH) free radicals and demonstrated novel anticancer activities. However, these nanorods exhibited low cytotoxicity toward normal human cells. In addition, the PTNRs effectively induced a decrease in the mitochondrial membrane potential in a dose‐dependent manner, which indicated that mitochondrial dysfunction might play an important role in PTNR‐induced apoptosis. Therefore, this study provides a one‐pot strategy for the facile synthesis of tellurium nanorods with novel antioxidant and anticancer application potentials.