The computational quantum mechanical investigation of the functionalized boron nitride nanocage as the smart carriers for favipiravir drug delivery: a DFT and QTAIM analysis

A Comparative DFT Investigation of the Adsorption of Temozolomide Anticancer Drug over Beryllium Oxide and Boron Nitride Nanocarriers

Herein, attempts were made to explore the adsorption prospective of beryllium oxide (Be12O12) and boron nitride (B12N12) nanocarriers toward the temozolomide (TMZ) anticancer drug. A systematic investigation of the TMZ adsorption over nanocarriers was performed by using quantum chemical density functional theory (DFT). The favorability of Be12O12 and B12N12 nanocarriers toward loading TMZ was investigated through A↔D configurations. Substantial energetic features of the proposed configurations were confirmed by negative adsorption (E ads) energy values of up to -30.47 and -26.94 kcal/mol for TMZ•••Be12O12 and •••B12N12 complexes within configuration A, respectively. As per SAPT results, the dominant contribution beyond the studied adsorptions was found for the electrostatic forces (E elst = -100.21 and -63.60 kcal/mol for TMZ•••B12N12 and •••Be12O12 complexes within configuration A, respectively). As a result of TMZ adsorption, changes in the energy of molecular orbitals followed by alterations in global reactivity descriptors were observed. Various intermolecular interactions within the studied complexes were assessed by QTAIM analysis. Notably, a favorable adsorption process was also observed under the effect of water with adsorption energy ( reaching -28.05 and -22.26 kcal/mol for TMZ•••B12N12 and •••Be12O12 complexes within configuration A, respectively. The drug adsorption efficiency of the studied nanocarriers was further examined by analyzing the IR and Raman spectra. From a sustained drug delivery point of view, the release pattern of TMZ from the nanocarrier surface was investigated by recovery time calculations. Additionally, the significant role of doping by heavy atoms (i.e., MgBe11O12 and AlB11N12) on the favorability of TMZ adsorption was investigated and compared to pure analogs (i.e., Be12O12 and B12N12). The obtained data from thermodynamic calculations highlighted that the adsorption process over pure and doped nanocarriers was spontaneous and exothermic. The emerging findings provide a theoretical base for future works related to nanocarrier applications in the drug delivery process, especially for the TMZ anticancer drug.

A DFT and QTAIM insight into ethylene oxide adsorption on the surfaces of pure and metal-decorated inorganic fullerene-like nanoclusters

In this industrial era, the use of low-dimensional nanomaterials as gas sensors for environmental monitoring has received enormous interest. To develop an effective sensing method for ethylene oxide (EO), DFT computations are conducted using method ωB97X-D and B3LYP with 6-31G(d,p) basis set to evaluate the adsorption behavior of ethylene oxide gas on the surfaces of pristine, as well as Scandium and Titanium decorated B12N12, Al12N12, and Al12P12 nanocages. Several properties like structural, physical, and electronic are studied methodically to better understand the sensing behavior. Scandium-decorated aluminum phosphate and boron nitride nanocages were shown to perform better in terms of adsorption properties. The short recovery time observed in this study is beneficial for the repetitive use of the gas sensor. The Natural Bond Orbital and molecular electrostatic potential analysis demonstrated a substantial quantity of charge transfer from adsorbate to adsorbents. The bandgap alternation after adsorption shows an influence of adsorption on electronic properties. The interactions of adsorbate and adsorbents are further studied using the ultraviolet-visible predicted spectrum, and quantum theory of atoms in molecules all of which yielded promising findings.

A dispersion-corrected DFT calculation on encapsulation of favipiravir drug used as antiviral against COVID-19 into carbon-, boron-, and aluminum-nitride nanotubes for optimal drug delivery systems combined with molecular docking simulations

Favipiravir (FAV) (6-fluoro-3-oxo-3,4-dihydropyrazine-2-carboxamide) is one of the most effective antiviral drugs which is cited for action against RNA-viral infections of COVID-19. In this study, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to investigate three nanotubes (NTs) with FAV drug as delivery systems. The encapsulated systems (ESs) consist of FAV drug inside carbon-carbon, aluminum nitride, and boron nitride. At B3LYP-D/6-31G(d,p) and CPCM/B3LYP-D/6-31G(d,p), the optimization of NTs, FAV, and its tautomeric forms and six ESs was investigated in gas and water environments. Five tautomeric forms of FAV were investigated, two keto forms (K1 and K2) and three enol forms (E1, E2, and E3). The results revealed that E3 and K2 isomeric forms represented the most stable structures in both media; thus, these two forms were encapsulated into the NTs. The stability and the synthesis feasibility of NTs have been proven by calculating their interaction energies. Non-covalent interactions (NCIs) were investigated in the ESs to show the type of NCI with the molecular voids. The binding energies, thermochemical parameters, and recovery times were investigated to understand the mechanism of FAV encapsulation and release. The encapsulated AlNNT systems are more favorable than those of BNNTs and CNTs in gas and aqueous environments with much higher binding energies. The quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) and recovery time analysis revealed the easier releasing of E3 from AlNNT over K2 form. Based on molecular docking simulations, we found that E3 and K2 FAV forms showed a high level of resistance to SARS-CoV-6M3M/6LU7/6W9C proteases.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11224-023-02182-4.

Interaction of Anagrelide drug molecule on pristine and doped boron nitride nanocages: a DFT, RDG, PCM and QTAIM investigation

Nowadays, a nanostructure-based drug delivery system is one of the most noticeable topics to be studied, and in this regard, boron nitride nanoclusters are promising drug carriers for targeted drug delivery systems. In this article, the interaction mechanism of Anagrelide (AG) drug with B12N12 and Al- and Ga-doped B12N12 nanocages have been investigated using DFT with B3LYP/6-31 G (d, p) method in both gas and water media. All our studied complexes are thermodynamically stable, and doped nanocage complexes have higher negative adsorption energy (EAd.) and negative solvation energy than AG/B12N12 complexes which correspond to the stability of these systems in both media. The negative highest EAd value is 64.98 kcal/mol (63.17 kcal/mol) and 65.69 kcal/mol (65.11 kcal/mol) in gas (water) media for complex F (AG/AlB11N12) and complex I (AG/GaB11N12) respectively, which refers to the highest stability of these systems. The enhanced values of dipole moment (from 12.40 (12.65) Debye to 17.21 (17.69) Debye in complex F (complex I)) also confirm their stability. The QTAIM and RDG analysis endorse the strong adsorption nature of the AG drug onto the AlB11N12, and GaB11N12 nanocages, which is consistent with the adsorption energy as chemisorption occurs for these complexes. According to the electronic properties, doped nanocages show high sensitivity that infers their promising nature for drug delivery purposes. Thus, complex F and complex I are promising drug delivery systems, and doped nanocages (AlB11N12 and GaB11N12) are better carriers than pristine nanocages for the AG drug delivery system.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Transition Metal-Decorated B12N12-X (X = Au, Cu, Ni, Os, Pt, and Zn) Nanoclusters as Biosensors for Carboplatin

Theoretical studies on the adsorption, sensibility, and reactivity of a boron nitride nanocage decorated with Au, Cu, Ni, Os, Pt, and Zn metals as a biosensor material were carried out for the adsorption of carboplatin by applying the density functional theory computation at the B3LYP-GD3BJ/def2svp level of theory. All the optimized structures, as well as the calculations as regards the studied objective including electronic properties, geometry optimization parameters, adsorption energy studies, natural bond orbital analysis, topology studies, sensor mechanistic parameters, and thermodynamic properties (ΔG and ΔH), were investigated herein. As a result, the noticeable change in the energy gap of the studied surfaces when interacting with carboplatin accounted for the surfaces' reactivity, stability, conductivity, work function, and overall adsorption ability, implying that the studied decorated surfaces are good sensor materials for sensing carboplatin. Furthermore, the negative adsorption energies obtained for interacting surfaces decorated with Cu, Ni, Os, and Zn suggest that the surface has a superior ability to sense carboplatin as chemisorption was seen. Substantially, the geometric short adsorption bond length after adsorption, thermodynamically spontaneous reactions, and acceptable sensor mechanism results demonstrate that the investigated surfaces have strong sensing characteristics for sensing carboplatin.

Adsorption of Chlormethine Anti-Cancer Drug on Pure and Aluminum-Doped Boron Nitride Nanocarriers: A Comparative DFT Study

The efficacy of pure and aluminum (Al)-doped boron nitride nanocarriers (B12N12 and AlB11N12) in adsorbing Chlormethine (CM), an anti-cancer drug, was comparatively dissected by means of the density functional theory method. The CM∙∙∙B12N12 and ∙∙∙AlB11N12 complexes were studied within two configurations, A and B, in which the adsorption process occurred via N∙∙∙ and Cl∙∙∙B/Al interactions, respectively. The electrostatic potential affirmations confirmed the opulent ability of the studied nanocarriers to engage in delivering CM via two prominent electrophilic sites (B and Al). Furthermore, the adsorption process within the CM∙∙∙AlB11N12 complexes was noticed to be more favorable compared to that within the CM∙∙∙B12N12 analog and showed interaction and adsorption energy values up to -59.68 and -52.40 kcal/mol, respectively, for configuration A. Symmetry-adapted perturbation theory results indicated that electrostatic forces were dominant in the adsorption process. Notably, the adsorption of CM over B12N12 and AlB11N12 nanocarriers exhibited predominant changes in their electronic properties. An elemental alteration was also revealed for the softness and hardness of B12N12 and AlB11N12 nanocarriers before and following the CM adsorption. Spontaneity and exothermic nature were obviously observed for the studied complexes and confirmed by the negative values of thermodynamic parameters. In line with energetic manifestation, Gibbs free energy and enthalpy change were drastically increased by the Al doping process, with values raised to -37.15 and -50.14 kcal/mol, respectively, for configuration A of the CM∙∙∙AlB11N12 complex. Conspicuous enhancement was noticed for the adsorption process in the water phase more than that in the gas phase and confirmed by the negative values of the solvation energy up to -53.50 kcal/mol for configuration A of the CM∙∙∙AlB11N12 complex. The obtained outcomes would be the linchpin for the future utilization of boron nitride as a nanocarrier.

Electrocatalytic activity of metal encapsulated, doped, and engineered fullerene-based nanostructured materials towards hydrogen evolution reaction

The utilization of nanostructured materials as efficient catalyst for several processes has increased tremendously, and carbon-based nanostructured materials encompassing fullerene and its derivatives have been observed to possess enhanced catalytic activity when engineered with doping or decorated with metals, thus making them one of the most promising nanocage catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) during electro-catalysis. Prompted by these, and the reported electrochemical, electronic and stability advantage, an attempt is put forward herein to inspect the metal encapsulated, doped, and decorated dependent HER activity of C₂₄ engineered nanostructured materials as effective electro-catalyst for HER. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations have been utilized to evaluate the catalytic hydrogen evolution reaction activity of four proposed bare systems: fullerene (C₂₄), calcium encapsulated fullerene (Ca^encC₂₄), nickel-doped calcium encapsulated fullerene (Ni^dopCa^encC₂₄), and silver decorated nickel-doped calcium encapsulated (Ag^decNi^dopCa^encC₂₄) engineered nanostructured materials at the TPSSh/GenECP/6-311+G(d,p)/LanL2DZ level of theory. The obtained results divulged that, a potential decrease in energy gap (E_gap) occurred in the bare systems, while a sparing increase was observed upon adsorption of hydrogen onto the surfaces, these surfaces where also observed to maintain the least E_H–L gap while the Ag^decNi^dopCa^encC₂₄ surface exhibited an increased electrocatalytic activity when compared to others. The results also showed that the electronic properties of the systems evinced a correspondent result with their electrochemical properties, the Ag-decorated surface also exhibited a proficient adsorption energy \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$({E}_{ads}^{H})$$\end{document}(EadsH) and Gibb’s free energy (ΔG_H) value. The engineered Ag-decorated and Ni-doped systems were found to possess both good surface stability and excellent electro-catalytic property for HER activities.

Trivalent and Pentavalent atoms doped Boron nitride nanosheets as Favipiravir drug carriers for the treatment of COVID-19 using computational approaches

In our DFT investigations, pristine BNNS as well as trivalent and pentavalent atoms doped BNNS have been taken into consideration for Favipiravir (FPV) drug carriers for the treatment of COVID-19. Among the nanosheets, In doped BNNS (BN(In)NS) interacts with FPV by favorable adsorption energies about −2.44 and −2.38 eV in gas and water media respectively. The charge transfer analysis also predicted that a significant amount of charge about 0.202e and 0.27e are transferred to BN(In)NS in gas and water media respectively. HOMO and LUMO energies are greatly affected by the adsorption of FPV on BN(In)NS and energy gap drastically reduced by about 38.80 % and 64.07 % in gas and water media respectively. Similar results are found from the global indices and work function analysis. Therefore, it is clearly seen that dopant In atom greatly modified the BNNS and enhanced the adsorption behavior along with sensitivity, reactivity, polarity towards the FPV.

A theoretical study of allopurinol drug sensing by carbon and boron nitride nanostructures: DFT, QTAIM, RDG, NBO and PCM insights

The application of low-dimensional nanomaterials in clinical practice as efficient sensors has been increasing day by day due to progress in the field of nanoscience. In this research work, we have conducted a theoretical investigation to nominate a potential electrochemical sensor for the allopurinol (APN) drug molecule via studying the fundamental interactions of the drug molecule with two nanocages (carbon nanocage/CNC – C₂₄ and boron nitride nanocage/BNNC – B₁₂N₁₂) and two nanosheets (graphene – C₅₄H₁₈ and boron nitride – B₂₇N₂₇H₁₈) by means of the DFT B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level of theory in both gas and water phases. The adsorption energies of APN–BNNC conjugated structures are in the range of −20.90 kcal mol⁻¹ to −22.33 kcal mol⁻¹, which indicates that weak chemisorption has occurred. This type of interaction happened due to charge transfer from the APN molecule to BNNC, which was validated and characterized based on the quantum theory of atoms in molecules, natural bond analysis, and reduced density gradient analysis. The highest decreases in energy gap (36.22% in gas and 26.79% in water) and maximum dipole moment (10.48 Debye in gas and 13.88 Debye in water) were perceived for the APN–BNNC conjugated structure, which was also verified via frontier molecular orbital (FMO) and MEP analysis. Also, the highest sensitivity (BNNC > BNNS > CNC > GNS) and favorable short recovery time (in the millisecond range) of BNNC can make it an efficient detector for the APN drug molecule.

The adsorption–desorption behavior of the drug allopurinol on/from the outer surface of a boron nitride nanocage was studied.