Metal-Organic Framework Nanoparticles in Photodynamic Therapy: Current Status and Perspectives

The chemistry of the coordination polymers has in recent years advanced extensively, affording various architectures, which are constructed from a variety of molecular building blocks with different interactions between them. The next challenge is the chemical and physical functionalization of these architectures, through the porous properties of the frameworks. This review concentrates on three aspects of coordination polymers: 1). the use of crystal engineering to construct porous frameworks from connectors and linkers ("nanospace engineering"), 2). characterizing and cataloging the porous properties by functions for storage, exchange, separation, etc., and 3). the next generation of porous functions based on dynamic crystal transformations caused by guest molecules or physical stimuli. Our aim is to present the state of the art chemistry and physics of and in the micropores of porous coordination polymers.

Crystalline solids with extended non-interpenetrating three-dimensional crystal structures were synthesized that support well-defined pores with internal diameters of up to 48 angstroms. The Zn4O(CO2)6 unit was joined with either one or two kinds of organic link, 4,4',4''-[benzene-1,3,5-triyl-tris(ethyne-2,1-diyl)]tribenzoate (BTE), 4,4',44''-[benzene-1,3,5-triyl-tris(benzene-4,1-diyl)]tribenzoate (BBC), 4,4',44''-benzene-1,3,5-triyl-tribenzoate (BTB)/2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylate (NDC), and BTE/biphenyl-4,4'-dicarboxylate (BPDC), to give four metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), MOF-180, -200, -205, and -210, respectively. Members of this series of MOFs show exceptional porosities and gas (hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide) uptake capacities. For example, MOF-210 has Brunauer-Emmett-Teller and Langmuir surface areas of 6240 and 10,400 square meters per gram, respectively, and a total carbon dioxide storage capacity of 2870 milligrams per gram. The volume-specific internal surface area of MOF-210 (2060 square meters per cubic centimeter) is equivalent to the outer surface of nanoparticles (3-nanometer cubes) and near the ultimate adsorption limit for solid materials.