Metal-Organic Sheets for Efficient Drug Delivery and Bioimaging

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) formed by coordination between metal ions or clusters and organic bridging ligands possess great potential for biomedicine applications, given their high biocompatibility and biodegradability. Compared with the traditional three-dimensional (3D) MOFs, two-dimensional (2D) MOFs with sheet-like morphologies exhibit unique properties. In this study, a nanoscale 2D leaf-shaped MOF (NZIF-L) was synthesized via coordination self-assembly between 2-methylimidazole (Hmim) and Zn²⁺ with subsequent morphology and size control. The fabricated NZIF-L is cytocompatible and can be quickly endocytosed, which makes it an excellent cargo carrier. Subsequent to loading with either doxorubicin (DOX) or 4,4'-(1,2-diphenylvinyl)-1,2-di-(phenylcarboxylic acid) (TCPE), the respectively obtained DOX@NZIF-L and TCPE@NZIF-L showed promise for killing and imaging cancer cells.