Biomedical Applications of Antimicrobial Metal-Organic Frameworks

Date

2019-04

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Florida Southern College

Abstract

In recent years, the field of metal-organic frameworks has seen dramatic increases in exploration. Metal-organic frameworks, commonly referred to as MOFs, have been shown to be excellent candidates for the storage of fuels (e.g., methane and acetylene), capture of gasses (e.g., hydrogen or carbon dioxide), and catalyzing reactions. With more than 20,000 different MOFs being reported and studied within the past decade, the focus of their applications has been constantly broadening and shifting. One area that has burgeoned more recently is the biomedical applications of these frameworks (particularly as antimicrobial agents) which has direct correlations and implications to the fields of medicine and dentistry, the particular interest of this project. One purpose of this particular project was to study the design and synthesis of metal-organic frameworks, in general, and tailor them toward biomedical applications, specifically. Upon the design and synthesis of suitable materials (e.g., biocompatible or bioactive), state-of-the-art structural analysis techniques (e.g., powder and single-crystal x-ray diffraction) were utilized for structure and phase confirmation. The expected bioactive materials were then evaluated for their antimicrobial properties. These materials are well-known for their modularity, and the explored structures were tailored to access/include different moieties (e.g., metal/ligand substitution, functionalization, etc.) with hopes of contributing to increased antimicrobial effectiveness.

Description

Honors thesis Spring 2019

Keywords

Metal-organic frameworks, Dental implants, Anti-infective agents

Citation

DOI

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