Interaction of 5‐fluorouracil with β‐cyclodextrin: A density functional theory study with dispersion correction

Detailed studies on the stability, interaction, and microstructure of host‐guest complexes in the vacuum of 5‐fluorouracil (5FU) with β‐cyclodextrin (βCD) were performed using B3LYP with the inclusion of Grimme's dispersion correction GD3 term and 6‐31+G(d,p) basis set. Among several studied 1:1 5FU‐βCD complexes, the one placing the keto tautomer of 5FU vertically in the host cavity and forming N‐H···OCD and CO···HOCD hydrogen bonds with hydroxyl groups of the smaller rim of βCD has the highest stability (Eint = −195 kJ/mol). Interestingly, there are no interactions with the inner hydrophobic part of the βCD host cavity. The strength of the intermolecular H‐bonds to the smaller rim of βC…