This work aimed to
investigate the interaction of bovine serum
albumin with newly synthesized potent new pyrene derivatives (PS1
and PS2), which might prove useful to have a better antibacterial
character as found for similar compounds in the previous report [
Bioconjugate Chemistry
2014
12
2269
2284
]. However, to date, binding studies with
plasma protein are still unknown. Steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy
and lifetime fluorescence studies show that the static interaction
binding mode and binding constants of PS1 and PS2 are 7.39 and 7.81
[
K
b
× 10
5
(M
–1
)], respectively. The experimental results suggest that hydrophobic
forces play a crucial role in interacting pyrene derivatives with
BSA protein. To verify this, molecular docking and molecular dynamics
simulations were performed to predict the nature of the interaction
and the dynamic behavior of the two compounds in the BSA complex,
PS1 and PS2, under physiological conditions of pH = 7.1. In addition,
the free energies of binding for the BSA-PS1 and BSA-PS2 complexes
were estimated at 300 K based on the molecular mechanics of the Poisson–Boltzmann
surface (MMPBSA) with the Gromacs package. PS2 was found to have a
higher binding affinity than PS1. To determine the behavior of the
orbital transitions in the ground state geometry, we found that both
compounds have similar orbital transitions from HOMO–LUMO via
π → π* and HOMO–1–LUMO+1 via n →
π*, which was included in the FMO analysis. A cytotoxicity study
was performed to determine the toxicity of the compounds. Based on
the MD study, the stability of the compounds with BSA and the dynamic
binding modes were further revealed, as well as the nature of the
binding force components involved and the important residues involved
in the binding process. From the binding energy analysis, it can be
assumed that PS2 may be more active than PS1.