Effects of boron/nitrogen/phosphorus doping on the scavenging action of armchair single-walled carbon nanotubes (armchair-SWCNT) for OH radicals: a DFT study

Hydroxyl radical (OH radical) is the most harmful free radical amongst the Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) responsible for numerous diseases of DNA damage like mutagenesis, carcinogenesis and ageing. Therefore, it is important to find a suitable scavenger for OH radical. In the present contribution, we aim to investigate the ability of pristine armchair-SWCNT and B/N/P-doped armchair-SWCNT to scavenge OH radicals using DFT calculations. The calculations reveal that the B/P-doped armchair-SWCNTs can act as a better scavenger for OH radical compared to pristine armchair-SWCNT but N-doped armchair-SWCNT does not act as a better scavenger for OH radical compared to pristine armchair-SWCNT. Furthermore, the developed scavenger is examined in terms of large-scale availability, biocompatibility, conductivity, stability and reactivity. For both in vivo and in vitro studies, the work is found to useful for enhancing SWCNT as a free radical scavenger.