The efficacy of pure and aluminum (Al)-doped boron nitride nanocarriers (B₁₂N₁₂ and AlB₁₁N₁₂) in adsorbing Chlormethine (CM), an anti-cancer drug, was comparatively dissected by means of the density functional theory method. The CM∙∙∙B₁₂N₁₂ and ∙∙∙AlB₁₁N₁₂ complexes were studied within two configurations, A and B, in which the adsorption process occurred via N∙∙∙ and Cl∙∙∙B/Al interactions, respectively. The electrostatic potential affirmations confirmed the opulent ability of the studied nanocarriers to engage in delivering CM via two prominent electrophilic sites (B and Al). Furthermore, the adsorption process within the CM∙∙∙AlB₁₁N₁₂ complexes was noticed to be more favorable compared to that within the CM∙∙∙B₁₂N₁₂ analog and showed interaction and adsorption energy values up to –59.68 and −52.40 kcal/mol, respectively, for configuration A. Symmetry-adapted perturbation theory results indicated that electrostatic forces were dominant in the adsorption process. Notably, the adsorption of CM over B₁₂N₁₂ and AlB₁₁N₁₂ nanocarriers exhibited predominant changes in their electronic properties. An elemental alteration was also revealed for the softness and hardness of B₁₂N₁₂ and AlB₁₁N₁₂ nanocarriers before and following the CM adsorption. Spontaneity and exothermic nature were obviously observed for the studied complexes and confirmed by the negative values of thermodynamic parameters. In line with energetic manifestation, Gibbs free energy and enthalpy change were drastically increased by the Al doping process, with values raised to –37.15 and –50.14 kcal/mol, respectively, for configuration A of the CM∙∙∙AlB₁₁N₁₂ complex. Conspicuous enhancement was noticed for the adsorption process in the water phase more than that in the gas phase and confirmed by the negative values of the solvation energy up to −53.50 kcal/mol for configuration A of the CM∙∙∙AlB₁₁N₁₂ complex. The obtained outcomes would be the linchpin for the future utilization of boron nitride as a nanocarrier.

The potentiality of the 6-mercaptopurine (MP) and 6-thioguanine (TG) expired drugs toward the corrosion inhibition of the aluminium (Al) (111) surface was widely investigated using a series of density functional theory (DFT) calculations. A competition between the anti-corrosive features of the studied drugs in the gas and aqueous phases was conducted on both neutral and protonated forms by means of quantum mechanical descriptors. The results of the electrostatic potential analysis demonstrated the prominent nucleophilic nature of the sulfur and nitrogen atoms over the structures of the examined drugs. The frontier molecular orbital theory findings outlined the higher preferability of TG over MP as a corrosion inhibitor. Upon determining the most beneficial configurations of the MP/TG⋯Al (111) complexes, first-principles molecular dynamics simulations were executed. Interestingly, the competence of the TG drug in the corrosion inhibition process of Al (111) was more extensive than that of the MP one, which was confirmed by the interaction energy values of −1.79 and −1.64 eV, respectively. Upon obtaining the relaxed complexes, the effect of the presence of water solvent on the adsorption process was studied. These findings provide a foundation for developing green anti-corrosive inhibitors for the aluminium surface.

Adsorption amplitude of the aluminum phosphide (Al₁₂P₁₂) nanocage toward the 2-Mercaptopyridine (MCP) drug was herein monitored based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The adsorption process through MCP⋅⋅⋅Al₁₂P₁₂ complex in various configurations was elucidated by means of adsorption (E_ads) energies. According to the energetic affirmations, the Al₁₂P₁₂ nanocage demonstrated potential versatility toward adsorbing the MCP drug within the investigated configurations and exhibited significant negative adsorption energies up to −27.71 kcal/mol. Upon the results of SAPT analysis, the electrostatic forces showed the highest contributions to the overall adsorption process with energetic values up to −74.36 kcal/mol. Concurrently, variations of molecular orbitals distribution along with alterations in the energy gap (E_gap) and Fermi level (E_FL) of the studied nanocage were denoted after adsorbing the MCP drug. The favorable impact of water solvent within the MCP⋅⋅⋅Al₁₂P₁₂ complexes was unveiled and confirmed by negative solvation energy (ΔE_solv) values up to −17.75 kcal/mol. According to thermodynamic parameters, the spontaneous and exothermic natures of the considered adsorption process were proclaimed by negative values of ΔG and ΔH parameters. Significant changes in the IR and Raman peaks, along with the appearance of new peaks, were noticed, confirming the occurrence of the targeted adsorption process. Furthermore, the adsorption features of the MCP drug on the Al₁₂N₁₂ nanocage were elucidated and compared to the Al₁₂P₁₂ analog. The obtained results demonstrated the higher preferability of Al₁₂P₁₂ nanocage than the Al₁₂N₁₂ candidate towards adsorbing the MCP drug without structural distortion.

Non-aqueous olive oil-in-glycerin Pickering emulsions are successfully prepared and stabilized solely by hydrophobic silica nanoparticles possessing 50% silanol groups. Various aspects related to the preparation and physicochemical stability of such promising emulsions are investigated. The resulted emulsions exhibited excellent stability against coalescence for above one year. The apparent viscosity of the olive oil-in-glycerin emulsions is explored as a function of silica nanoparticle concentration and drop volume fraction for the first time. The flow behavior of these emulsions followed the non-Newtonian shear-thinning trend. Both simple o/o and multiple o/o/o emulsion types can be stabilized by one and the same silica nanoparticles during the catastrophic phase inversion, occurred at drop volume fraction between 0.4–0.5. Our findings are correlated with the widely accepted surfactant or solid-stabilized systems. The potential use of such unique emulsions as drug delivery vehicles is studied.

Castor oil-in-glycerin-in-castor oil double (o/o/o) Pickering emulsions are successfully prepared and stabilized by only one type of silica nanoparticles possessing 50% silanol groups. The resulted emulsions exhibited excellent stability against coalescence for over a month. The apparent viscosity of these emulsions is explored as a function of silica nanoparticles concentration and globule volume fraction for the first time. Comprehensive physico-chemical studies of both simple and double emulsions are investigated. The flow behavior of these double emulsions (castor/gly./castor) followed the non-Newtonian shear thinning trend similar to that in simple emulsions (gly./castor). Both simple (gly./castor) and double (castor/gly./castor) emulsion types can be stabilized by one and the same silica nanoparticles during the catastrophic phase inversion (CPI) which occurred at glycerin drop volume fraction (ϕ_gly.) of 0.5–0.6 for the simple (gly./castor) emulsion and at glycerin globule volume fraction (ϕ_c/g) of 0.6–0.7 for the double (castor/gly./castor) emulsion. Both simple (gly./castor) and double (castor/gly./castor) emulsions were used to control the in vitro release of aspirin and the release profile was found to follow a zero-order kinetic for slow and prolonged release mechanism.