Issue 26, 2024

Comparing organic and metallo-organic hydrazone molecular cages as potential carriers for doxorubicin delivery

Abstract

Molecular cages are three-dimensional supramolecular structures that completely wrap guest molecules by encapsulation. We describe a rare comparative study between a metallo-organic cage and a fully organic analogous system, obtained by hydrazone bond formation self-assembly. Both cages are able to encapsulate the anticancer drug doxorubicin, with the organic cage forming a 1 : 1 inclusion complex with μM affinity, whereas the metallo-organic host experiences disassembly by interaction with the drug. Stability experiments reveal that the ligands of the metallo-organic cage are displaced in buffer at neutral, acidic, and basic pH, while the organic cage only disassembles under acidic conditions. Notably, the organic cage also shows minimal cell toxicity, even at high doses, whilst the doxorubicin-cage complex shows in vitro anti-cancer activity. Collectively, these results show that the attributes of the pure organic molecular cage are suitable for the future challenges of in vivo drug delivery using molecular cages.

Graphical abstract: Comparing organic and metallo-organic hydrazone molecular cages as potential carriers for doxorubicin delivery

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
05 4 2024
Accepted
06 6 2024
First published
07 6 2024
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2024,15, 10010-10017

Comparing organic and metallo-organic hydrazone molecular cages as potential carriers for doxorubicin delivery

G. Montà-González, D. Bastante-Rodríguez, A. García-Fernández, P. J. Lusby, R. Martínez-Máñez and V. Martí-Centelles, Chem. Sci., 2024, 15, 10010 DOI: 10.1039/D4SC02294G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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