Zinc-based metal–organic frameworks as nontoxic and biodegradable platforms for biomedical applications: review study

Abstract

Development of biomedical systems for controllable drug delivery systems and construction of biosensors is imperative to reduce side effects of common treatment techniques and enhance the therapeutic efficacy. To address this issue, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) as hybrid porous polymeric structures have attracted worldwide attention due to their unprecedented opportunities in vast range of applications in diverse fields including chemistry, biological, and medicinal science as gas storage/separation, sensing, and drug delivery systems. Recently, biomedical application has become an interesting and promising issue for development and usage of multi-functional MOFs. Flexible chemical composition and versatile porous structure of MOFs enable the engineering and enhancement of their medical formulation and functionality as practical carriers for whether therapeutic or imaging agents. One important point in this domain is the efficient delivery of drugs in the body using nontoxic and biodegradable carriers. This review brings together the literatures that addressing the biomedical applications of Zinc-based MOFs (i.e. as drug delivery systems or nontoxic agent in matter of therapeutic applications) to present recent achievements in this interesting field.

Keywords:

• Zinc-based metal–organic frameworks
• drug delivery systems
• biomedical application
• imaging agent

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.