Quantum chemical simulation of the interaction of epirubicin with a fullerene and a carbon graphene-like plane

Creation of new "targeted delivery" drugs is one of the priority areas of pharmacology. This is especially true for oncology. Medicinal substances, in particular of the anthracycline series, immobilized on the surface of nanosized carriers for the targeted delivery of drugs to target organs or target tissues, allow creating an optimal concentration of the drug in the area of therapeutic effect. The latter significantly reduces systemic toxicity by reducing the total dose and longer retention in the lesion, as well as increasing the solubility and bioavailability of drugs. One of the promising excipients are nanocarbon materials, in particular, fullerene (C60) and original and modified graphene. To date, the specifics of the interaction of epirubicin with a graphene-like plane (GP) and fullerene at the atomic level remain poorly understood. Therefore, the energy parameters of the interaction of HP and C60 with epirubicin in various protolytic forms, which exist at different pH values of the aqueous medium, were investigated using quantum chemistry methods. Calculations were performed using the MOPAC2016 program using the PM6-D3H4X method, in which, in addition to taking into account hydrogen bonds, dispersion interactions are also taken into account. Based on the analysis of the results of quantum chemical studies, the thermodynamic probability of the epirubicin adsorption process on GP is predicted in the entire pH range of the aqueous medium, as evidenced by the negative values of interaction enthalpies in all four cases. It has been found that epirubicin (protonated form) will have the greatest adsorption both on the graphene plane (-209.1 kJ/mol) and upon interaction with the fullerene molecule (-121.3 kJ/mol).