Encapsulation of 5-Fluorouracil in a Cu(II)-Based Porous Metal-Organic Framework: Drug Delivery and Anticancer Activity

Solvothermal reaction of an asymmetric heterofunctional ditopic linker with Cu(NO3)(2)center dot 3H(2)O gives rise to a robust microporous metal-organic framework with the formula {(H3O+)[Cu-2(TZB)(2)(CH3COO)](DMF)(2)(H2O)(3)}(n) (I) (H(2)TZB = 4-(1H-tetrazol-5-yl)benzoic acid, DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide). It structure has been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis (CIF file CCDC no. 1860338) and further characterized by elemental analyses, powder X-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetric analysis. The efficient encapsulation of an anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) on the desolvated I (Ia) has been studied by both grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation and drug release experiments. In addition, in vitro anticancer activity of compounds I and 5-Fu loaded Ia have also been evaluated using MTT assay against three human bone tumor cell lines (MG-63, Saos-2 and U2OS).