A new Dy(III)-based metal-organic framework with polar pores for pH-controlled anticancer drug delivery and inhibiting human osteosarcoma cells

Anticancer drug delivery is considered as the most common and patient acceptable drug administration with reduced side effects. In general, an ideal drug carrier for anticancer drug delivery should have high drug loading capacity, good biocompatibility, and avoid drug delivery in normal tissue (neutral conditions) and promoting the drug release in cancerous tissue (acidic condition). Herein, we synthesize a new porous Dy(III)-based metal-organic framework, Dy(HABA)(ABA)](DMA)₄] (1, H₂ABA = 4,4'-azanediyldibenzoic acid, DMA = N,N-dimethylacetamide) with uncoordinated N donor sites in the porous surroundings using a bent polycarboxylic acid linker under solvothermal conditions. The structure of the obtained crystalline product has been determined by X-ray single-crystal diffraction, elemental analysis, TGA, XRD, and gas sorption measurement. Due to the suitable window size and polar atom functionalized 1D channels, the activated 1 (1a) was used for anticancer drug 5-Fu loading. A moderately high drug loading and pH-dependent drug-release behavior could be observed for 1a. Furthermore, as demonstrated by the MTT assay, this drug/MOF composite shows low cytotoxicity, good biocompatibility, and anticancer activity against human osteosarcoma cell lines MG63.