Insights into interactions of N-ethylpentylone drug with water and biomacromolecules

Abstract

Abstract One of the new synthetic cathinones that has a high tendency to replace ecstasy and other established synthetic drugs is N-ethylpentylone, (NEP), due to its high potency, stimulative, hedonic and hallucinatory effects. In order to examine the interactions of NEP, the apparent molar quantities, thermal expansion coefficient, the apparent molar volume at infinite dilution and the limiting apparent molar expansibility were calculated from the experimental measurements of the density of NEP aqueous solutions in different temperature and molality ranges, from T = (293.15 to 313.15) K and from m = (0.05898 to 0.0977) mol·kg–1, respectively. The taste of NEP was estimated by calculated values of apparent specific molar volume at infinite dilution and it was concluded that its taste in aqueous solutions is bitter. Also, using the spectrofluorimetric technique, an intermolecular deactivation of in situ formed ethidium bromide (EB) complex with DNA (EB-DNA) was investigated in the presence of NEP. Obtained results indicated good affinity and efficiency of NEP to substitute EB from the EB-DNA complex via intercalation mode. Using molecular docking, it was concluded that the binding energy obtained for NEP indicates its higher affinity to interact with DNA, compared to methamphetamine and amphetamine, but lower compared to ecstasy. The affinity of NEP to bind to bovine serum albumin (BSA) was also investigated and discussed. It is shown that NEP could be efficiently transported and distributed through the blood and cells.