Understanding Carbon Nanotubes Functionalization and Their Interactions with Lipids Toward Drug Delivery Systems: A Combined Experimental and Computational Spectroscopic Investigation

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are a class of materials that exhibit many special properties. So far, little is known about their environmental impact and ecotoxicological risk. These tubes, however, can accumulate in living organisms and enter living cells. CNTs are regarded as advanced materials in drug and gene delivery vectors, where the exact mechanism for the intake of CNTs as the cellular membrane is not clear. Herein, the interaction of COOH functionalized CNTs with artificial membranes is studied via combined experimental and computational approaches employing infrared and Raman spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations. The related physicochemical features of the CNTs toward their role in drug delivery systems are discussed.