In order to provide effective, extended-release medication delivery, Japanese researchers have developed TUS-84, a new three-dimensional (3D) covalent organic framework (COF) having a scu-c topology for the first time. The research was published in Applied Materials & Interfaces by ACS.
Porous organic materials that are part of the new generation of porous solids are created by joining molecular building blocks with powerful covalent bonds into crystalline, stretched, net-like reticular 3D structures.
The novel 3D covalent organic framework material’s potential
In the study, the synthesised 3D COF showed exceptional hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and methane adsorption characteristics. After employing the standard nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicine ibuprofen for five days, the researchers discovered that TUS-84 permitted prolonged drug release performance of roughly 35%. According to the study, because ibuprofen has a short half-life (1.8–2.0 hours), elongated formulations with TUS-84 pores (1.05 nm) are required for encapsulating the drug, which has a molecular size of 0.5–1 nm.
Ibuprofen was released at a much slower rate of 24% for TUS-84 after 12 hours compared to the release rates of 78% for cage-based crystalline covalent organic frames (Cage-COF-TT) and 49% for PI-COF-5, respectively, after 12 hours. The researchers remark that the findings have the potential to lead to lower dose frequency and more reliable treatment of persistent, chronic pain.
By linking the nodes of a regular plane (4-connected) with the nodes of a regular prism, researchers were able to create a 3D COF with scu-c topology (network structure) for the first time in this study (8-connected). Professor Negishi noted that this new COF, TUS-84, has a twofold interpenetrating design with clearly defined voids.
More thorough research on TUS-84 for medication delivery evaluated captopril’s loading and release. TUS-84 had a 16-weight percent captopril loading, according to a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) trace. After around 5 days, the majority of the captopril was discharged from TUS-84, with the overall delivery attaining about 98% of the entire captopril loading.
Professor Yuichi Negishi from the Faculty of Science, Department of Applied Chemistry, Tokyo University of Science, Japan, together with colleagues Dr. Saikat Das, Taishu Sekine, and Haruna Mabuchi from the Department of Applied Chemistry, Tokyo University of Science, collaborated in the 3D COF study.
