An easy approach towards once a day sustained release dosage form using microporous Cu-MOFs as drug delivery vehicles

Abstract

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have potential as drug carriers on the basis of their surface areas and pore volumes that allow for high drug loading and fast release. The present study investigated solvothermal synthesis and comprehensive characterization (BET, FTIR, PXRD and SEM) of two closely related series of microporous copper MOFs, Cu-MOF(s) (s = single linker) based on BPDC (biphenyl-4,4-dicarboxylate) linker and Cu-MOF(m) (m = mixed linker) comprising both BPDC and BPY (4,4-bipyridine) as linkers, for easy encapsulation and sustained delivery of two drugs, ibuprofen and montelukast sodium. Finally, one-way analysis of variance was applied for comparative evaluation between various concentration ratios (MOF : drug) to conclude statistically significant difference of encapsulation power and sustained release trend between the two Cu-MOFs using a UV-visible spectrophotometer by obtaining the absorbance value at λ_max for each drug. Due to porous crystalline properties of our synthetized Cu-MOFs, we ensured excellent encapsulation and sustainability of both drugs to conceive a novel sustained release system for ibuprofen and montelukast sodium, which is more effective in comparison with conventional dosages of 2 to 3 times a day.