Foliar application of Phenylalanine functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotube improved the content of volatile compounds of basil grown in greenhouse.

Carbon nanotubes are among the elicitors that have different effects on plants. Basil as a useful and valuable plant has significant medicinal properties; The aim of this research is to study the effect of different concentrations of functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes with phenylalanine and non-functionalized in concentrations of (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mg.l -1 ) and activated carbon on total phenol and flavonoid content, antioxidant capacity, the content of H 2 O 2 , reactive oxygen species detection, antioxidant enzyme activity, and the concentration of volatile compounds of basil in the greenhouse culture, in an experiment in the form of a completely randomized design with three replications, and in the faculty of sciences of Urmia university's laboratory. The highest content of total phenol, flavonoid, anthocyanin, antioxidant capacity and hydrogen peroxide content were observed in the 200 mg.l -1 functionalized carbon nanotube. The highest percentage of alpha-Copaene, trans-alpha-Bergamotene, alpha-Guaiene, Bicyclogermacrene, 1,10-di-epi-Cubenol and alpha-Eudesmol compounds at 150 mg.l -1 of functionalized carbon nanotube and the highest percentage of compounds 1,8-cineole and eugenol was observed at 100 mg.l -1 of functionalized carbon nanotube. The compounds of linalool, camphor and anethole also showed their highest amount in treatments of 200, 150 and 50 mg.l -1 of carbon nanotube, respectively. In general, the observations of this research indicated that the use of functionalized carbon nanotubes as a stimulant has increased the antioxidant capacity of basil and on the other hand, it has led to an improving in the content of secondary metabolites.