Impact of active sites on encapsulation of curcumin in Metal Organic Frameworks

In this study, we present the investigation of the curcumin loading and release properties of four different Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) with varying metal centres and organic ligands. Through our research, we have identified HKUST-1 and MIL-100, highly porous copper and iron-containing MOFs, that exhibit specific interactions with curcumin, leading to high encapsulation efficiencies (55%–75%) even at low concentrations as 6 ppm. The binding modes of curcumin onto MOFs have been investigated using a combined experimental and computational approach. Furthermore, our drug-releasing studies have revealed slow and prolonged release for over two days, which further indicates the specific interactions of curcumin with HKUST-1 and MIL-100. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comparative study that investigates the drug delivery properties of curcumin using Copper, Ferrous, and Zinc MOFs. Our findings pave the way for the development of stable, highly interactive MOFs as drug carriers for curcumin, which has the potential to overcome its poor aqueous solubility and rapid metabolism, and enhance its pharmacological activities in medicine.