ABSTRACT
The elucidation of the action of doxorubicin (DOX) has been considered a challenge for cancer therapy. Using theoretical approaches, we investigated the structure and electronic properties of DOX as a function of pH, which we thought likely to be related to the influence of its tautomers. Regarding the relative stabilities among the tautomers, the results obtained from PM6 were the most similar to those obtained from DFT. The theoretical absorption spectrum for each tautomeric species simply showed a single absorption peak located around 400 nm, in contrast to the experimental absorption spectra in the literature that showed four absorption bands. The experimental evidence was properly explained by considering four tautomeric conformers of DOX. The spectroscopic study of the deprotonated tautomers also suggested the presence of four deprotonated tautomers at more basic pH values. The spectrum at pH 10.08 can be explained by the presence of protonated and deprotonated doxorubicin species.
