Quantum chemical analysis of 5-aminolevulinic acid anticancer drug delivery systems: Carbon nanotube, –COOH functionalized carbon nanotube and iron oxide nanoparticle

Abstract

Drug delivery systems including the 5-aminolevulinic acid anticancer drug (ALA) and carbon nanotube (CN), COOH functionalized carbon nanotube (FCN) and iron oxide nanoparticle (ION) were examined. For each of the CN, FCN and ION nanocarriers, four (CN/ALA1-4), three (FCN/ALA1-3) and three (ION/ALA1-3) configurations were considered, respectively. All structures were optimized at B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) in aqueous solution. Dispersion corrections were considered using M06-2X density functional. Binding energies, solvation energies and the contribution of each configuration in the drug delivery system were calculated. The binding energies of FCN/ALA1-3 and ION/ALA1-3 are about the same and much larger than those of CN/ALA1-4. On the other hand, the solvation energies of ION/ALA1-3 are more negative than those of CN/ALA1-4 and FCN/ALA1-3, which is an important advantage for iron oxide nanoparticles. Quantum molecular descriptors indicate that the reactivity of ALA increases in the vicinity of CN, FCN and ION. The AIM analysis showed that the hydrogen bonds play important roles in FCN/ALA1-3 and ION/ALA1-3 configurations.