Investigation of drug delivery capability of single-walled carbon and boron-nitride nanotubes, boron-nitride (B16N16), and C32 fullerenes as nanocarriers of captopril drug; DFT study

Abstract

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed on M062X/6-31G (d) and M062X/6-311G (d, p) surfaces to investigate the interaction of captopril molecules with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) and C32 nanoclusters. In order to enhance adsorption, a doping method was employed, and structures of single-walled boron nitride nanotubes (SWBNNT) and boron nitride nanoclusters (B16N16) were selected for improved drug delivery purposes in this study. The adsorption energy of captopril on the nanostructures was calculated in both phases. In both phases, captopril adsorption energy on nanostructures was calculated. The negative values of adsorption energy showed that the interaction between captopril and nanostructures is exothermic. The adsorption energy values were higher in the gas phase compared to the aqueous phase, indicating a stronger interaction in the gas phase. The density of states (DOS) study was employed to evaluate the effect of molecular adsorption on the electronic properties of nanostructures. The results revealed that the B16N16 nanocluster approached the Fermi level more closely after drug adsorption compared to other nanostructures. Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules (QTAIM) calculations showed that there is a weak interaction between captopril and both nanostructures. Based on the adsorption energy values obtained from both methods, the interaction between captopril and SWCNT was found to be stronger than that between captopril and SWBNNT, whereas the interaction in the B16N16 nanocluster was found to be equal to that in C32-fullerene. Significant changes in ΔEg values were observed for Captopril@SWCNT and Captopril@B16N16-fullerene in each method, indicating the conductivity of these two structures increased more after captopril adsorption compared to other nanostructures. Therefore, SWBNNT and B16N16-fullerene can serve as captopril nanosensors.