The mechanism of interaction between tri-para-cresyl phosphate and human serum protein: a multispectroscopic and in-silico study

Organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) pose the significant risks to the environment and human health and have become a serious public health issue. Tricresyl phosphates (TCPs), a group of aryl OPFRs, exhibit neurotoxicity and endocrine disrupting toxicity. However, the binding mechanisms between TCPs and human serum albumin (HSA) remain unknown. In this study, through fluorescence and ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption spectroscopy, molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD), tri-para-cresyl phosphate (TpCP) was selected to explore potential interactions between HSA and TCPs. The results of the fluorescence spectroscopy demonstrated that a decrease the fluorescence intensity of HSA and a blue shift were observed with the increasing concentrations of TpCP. The binding constant (K