Study of Azobenzene-modified Black Phosphorus for Potential Tumor Therapy

Exploring the interaction between black phosphorus (BP)-based hybrid systems and target proteins is of great significance for understanding the biological effects of 2D nanomaterials at the molecular level. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that different terminal groups of the azobenzene (AB) motif in BP@AB hybrids can affect the extent of interfacial charge transfer between the BP sheet and AB-derivatives, which determines the electrostatic interaction with proteins and hence biofunctions of BP@AB hybrids. With the advantage of AB modification, BP@AB hybrids displayed antitumor effects and induced production of cellular reactive oxygen species and apoptosis in cancer cells. Through the proteomics profiling, cellular ribosome and lipid metabolic processes were screened out as the target pathways of the BP@AB-NH