Validation of an MD simulation approach for electrical field responsive micelles and their application in drug delivery

Abstract

In the current work, a new type of micelle is designed that has active connectivity in respond to exterior stimulus and the desired water solubility. Two end-ornamented homopolymers, polystyrene-beta-cyclodextrin (PS-β-CD) and polyethylene oxide-ferrocene (PE-FE), can aggregate as a supramolecular micelle (PS-β-CD/PE-FE) by the guest–host interactions. Our results showed that the Lennard–Jones and hydrophobic interactions are the main powerful forces for the micelle formation process. It was found that the electrical field plays a role as a driving force in the reversible assembly-disassembly of the micellar system. Moreover, for the first time, we examined the PS-β-CD/PE-FE micelle interaction as a drug delivery system with anastrozole (ANS) and mitomycin C (MIC) anti-cancer drugs. The investigation of the total energy between PS-β-CD/PE-FE micelle and drugs predicts the drug adsorption process as favorable (Etotal = − 638.67 and − 259.80 kJ/mol for the Micelle@ANS and Micelle@MIC complexes, respectively). Our results offer a deep understanding of the micelle formation process, the electrical field-respond, and drug adsorption behaviors of the micelle. This simulation study has been accomplished by employing classical molecular dynamics calculation.