Outstanding Drug-Loading/Release Capacity of Hollow Fe-Metal–Organic Framework-Based Microcapsules: A Potential Multifunctional Drug-Delivery Platform

Owing to their characteristic structures, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are considered as the leading candidate for drug-delivery materials. However, controlling the synthesis of MOFs with uniform morphology and high drug-loading/release efficiencies is still challenging, which greatly limits their applications and promotion. Herein, a multifunctional MOF-based drug-delivery system (DDS) with a controlled pore size of 100–200 nm for both therapeutic and bioimaging purposes was successfully synthesized in one step. Fe-MOF-based microcapsules were synthesized through a competitive coordination method, which was profited from the intrinsic coordination characteristics of the Fe element and the host-guest supramolecular interactions between Fe³⁺ and polyoxometalates anions. This as-synthesized macroporous DDS could greatly increase the drug-loading/release rate (77%; 83%) and serve as a magnetic resonance (MR) contrast agent. Because an Fe-containing macroporous DDS presents ultrahigh drug loading/release, the obtained 5-FU/Fe-MOF-based microcapsules displayed good biocompatibility, extremely powerful inhibition of tumor growth, and satisfactory MR imaging capability. Given all these advantages, this study integrates high therapeutic effect and diagnostic capability via a simple and effective morphology-controlling strategy, aiming at further facilitating the applications of MOFs in multifunctional drug delivery.