C60 fullerene binding to DNA

Journal Article

Fullerenes have attracted considerable attention in various areas of science and tech

nology. Owing to their exceptional physical, chemical, and biological properties,

they have many applications, particularly in cosmetic and medical products. Using

the Lennard-Jones 6-12 potential function and the continuum approximation, which

assumes that intermolecular interactions can be approximated by average atomic

surface densities, we determine the binding energies of a C60 fullerene with respect

to both single-strand and double-strand DNA molecules. We assume that all con

figurations are in a vacuum and that the C60 fullerene is initially at rest. Double

integrals are performed to determine the interaction energy of the system. We find

that the C60 fullerene binds to the double-strand DNA molecule, at either the major or minor grooves, with binding energies of −4.7 eV or −2.3 eV, respectively, and that the C60 molecule binds to the single-strand DNA molecule with a binding energy of −1.6 eV. Our results suggest that the C60 molecule is most likely to be linked to the major groove of the dsDNA molecule