Theoretical comparison of nanotube materials for drug delivery

Carbon nanotubes have gained significant attention as nanocapsules for targeted drug delivery, and recently the behaviour of drugs when encapsulated into carbon nanotubes has been investigated by the present authors. However, there are many other materials which may possibly be more biocompatible or biodegradable and which can form single-walled nanotubes, such as boron nitride, silicon and boron carbide. This Letter theoretically investigates the encapsulation behaviour of the anticancer drug cisplatin when entering boron nitride, silicon and boron carbide single-walled nanotubes, and makes a comparison with the corresponding results for single-walled carbon nanotubes. Of the four materials, it is shown that boron nitride provides the most ideal delivery capsule as it requires the least amount of material for efficient encapsulation and therefore possesses the least toxicity.