Cycloaddition reactions of pristine and endohedral fullerene molecules: possible anticancer activity.

Epoxide of oestradiol is one of the main risk factors for the genesis and evolution of breast cancer; hence, in recent years there has been considerable interest in the investigation of new inhibitors capable of reducing its carcinogenic activity. The aim of this article is to study the [2 + 2] cycloaddition reaction of epoxide of oestradiol in different pristine (C and D-C) and endohedral metallofullerene (C@ScC, C@Sc and C@Sc) by means of molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) topological analysis. Different from other molecular scalar fields, MEP topology enables to find minima related to lone pairs and π electrons, therefore, this molecular scalar field is appropriate to identify the most reactive sites. In consonance with our results, it was found that C was the best candidate to carry out the epoxide of oestradiol cycloaddition since more stable adducts were obtained. Furthermore, it is expected that more than one oestradiol epoxide molecule will be added to C, forasmuch as C reactivity is enhanced once the adduct is formed. The study was carried through DFT framework included in the Gaussian 09 package (MPWB95/6-31G(d,p)).