Designed metal–organic framework based on metal–organic polyhedron: Drug delivery

Abstract A new metal–organic framework having formula {[NH 2 (CH 3 )][Cu 6 (L) 3 (OAc)(H 2 O) 4 ]·xsolvent} (H4L = 3,5-bis(isophthalic acid)-1H-1,2,4-triazole) ( 1 ) was synthesized, in which two types of polyhedral cages and one-dimensional channels coexist. The incorporation of the drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) into the desolvated 1 was around 24.9 wt% per gram of dehydrated 1 . 5-FU is released in a controlled and progressive fashion with 98% of the drug released after 120 h at PBS. The result from this work provides a new avenue for MOF to be used as potential drug delivery.