A Comparative Analysis of the Interaction between Donepezil and Albumin with and Without a ZnO/Chitosan Quantum Dot Nanocomposite

Abstract In this study, a nanocomposite of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles and chitosan‐based carbon quantum dots (ZnO/chQDs) in the presence of bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a promising drug carrier candidate was synthesized and characterized. For this purpose, chitosan and citric acid were used for the synthesis of chQDs and donepezil (DNP) was selected as a model drug. The BSA binding properties of DNP were analyzed by FT‐IR and UV‐Vis techniques, electrochemical methods and molecular docking in the absence and presence of ZnO/chQDs. The thermodynamic parameters and binding constants of DNP with BSA were also evaluated by these methods. The changes in the structural properties of BSA in the presence of DNP, ZnO/chQDs and ZnO/chQDs‐DNP were monitored by ATR‐FTIR spectroscopy. Cyclic and differential pulse voltammetric techniques and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were applied to investigate the interactions, using methylene blue in electrolyte solution as redox probe, and its redox behaviour was observed to explore the interactions. Molecular docking was carried out on the interaction of DNP with BSA in the absence and presence of the synthesized ZnO/chQDs, and the results were compared with those of the experimental observations. The experimental results were confirmed by molecular docking studies.