Synthesis of 5-Fluorouracil conjugated LaF3:Tb3+/PEG-COOH nanoparticles and its studies on the interaction with bovine serum albumin: spectroscopic approach

The luminescent lanthanide-doped nanoparticles have gathered considerable attention in many fields especially in biomedicine. In this work, the lanthanum fluoride-doped terbium nanoparticles (LaF₃:Tb³⁺ NPs) via simple chemical precipitation method has been synthesized and functionalized with polyethylene glycol. The size and the shape of the nanoparticles are confirmed using X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The conjugation of 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) and thus synthesized nanoparticles (NPs) were confirmed using various spectroscopic methods such as UV–Visible spectroscopy, fluorescence steady state, and excited state spectroscopy studies. The enhancement in fluorescence emission (λ = 543 nm) of drug-conjugated nanoparticles confirms the Vander Waals force of attraction due to F–F bonding between the drug and the nanoparticles. Further, the effects of 5FU-NPs in carrier protein were investigated using bovine serum albumin as a protein model. The 5FU–LaF₃:Tb³⁺ nanoparticles binding is illustrated with binding constant and number of binding sites. The structural change of bovine serum albumin has been studied using circular dichroism and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis.

Full size image