Alkhalifah Mohammed A, Yar Muhammad, Bayach Imene, Sheikh Nadeem S, Ayub Khurshid
Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Chemistry, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad 22060, KPK, Pakistan.
Materials (Basel). 2022 Oct 22;15(21):7425. doi: 10.3390/ma15217425.
Continuous studies are being carried out to explore new methods and carrier surfaces for target drug delivery. Herein, we report the covalent triazine framework CN as a drug delivery carrier for fluorouracil (FU) and nitrosourea (NU) anti-cancer drugs. FU and NU are physiosorbed on CN with adsorption energies of -28.14 kcal/mol and -27.54 kcal/mol, respectively. The outcomes of the non-covalent index (NCI) and quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) analyses reveal that the FU@CN and NU@CN complexes were stabilized through van der Waals interactions. Natural bond order (NBO) and electron density difference (EDD) analyses show an appreciable charge transfer from the drug and carrier. The FU@CN complex had a higher charge transfer (-0.16 e) compared to the NU@CN complex (-0.02 e). Frontier molecular orbital (FMO) analysis reveals that the adsorption of FU on CN caused a more pronounced decrease in the HOMO-LUMO gap (E) compared to that of NU. The results of the FMO analysis are consistent with the NBO and EDD analyses. The drug release mechanism was studied through dipole moments and pH effects. The highest decrease in adsorption energy was observed for the FU@CN complex in an acidic medium, which indicates that FU can easily be off-loaded from the carrier (CN) to a target site because the cancerous cells have a low pH compared to a normal cell. Thus, it may be concluded that CN possesses the therapeutic potential to act as a nanocarrier for FU to treat cancer. Furthermore, the current study will also provide motivation to the scientific community to explore new surfaces for drug delivery applications.
为探索靶向给药的新方法和载体表面,相关研究正在持续开展。在此,我们报道了共价三嗪框架CN作为氟尿嘧啶(FU)和亚硝基脲(NU)抗癌药物的给药载体。FU和NU以物理吸附的方式吸附在CN上,吸附能分别为-28.14千卡/摩尔和-27.54千卡/摩尔。非共价指数(NCI)和分子中原子量子理论(QTAIM)分析结果表明,FU@CN和NU@CN复合物通过范德华相互作用得以稳定。自然键序(NBO)和电子密度差(EDD)分析表明,药物与载体之间存在明显的电荷转移。与NU@CN复合物(-0.02 e)相比,FU@CN复合物具有更高的电荷转移量(-0.16 e)。前沿分子轨道(FMO)分析表明,与NU相比,FU在CN上的吸附导致最高已占分子轨道-最低未占分子轨道能隙(E)有更显著的降低。FMO分析结果与NBO和EDD分析结果一致。通过偶极矩和pH效应研究了药物释放机制。在酸性介质中,FU@CN复合物的吸附能下降最为明显,这表明FU能够轻易地从载体(CN)上卸载到靶位点,因为癌细胞的pH值比正常细胞低。因此,可以得出结论,CN具有作为FU纳米载体治疗癌症的治疗潜力。此外,当前的研究也将激励科学界探索用于药物递送应用的新表面。