Selective Laser Sintering of Metal-Organic Frameworks: Production of Highly Porous Filters by 3D Printing onto a Polymeric Matrix.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have raised a lot of interest, especially as adsorbing materials, because of their unique and well-defined pore structures. One of the main challenges in the utilization of MOFs is their crystalline and powdery nature, which makes their use inconvenient in practice. Three-dimensional printing has been suggested as a potential solution to overcome this problem. We used selective laser sintering (SLS) to print highly porous flow-through filters containing the MOF copper(II) benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate (HKUST-1). These filters were printed simply by mixing HKUST-1 with an easily printable nylon-12 polymer matrix. By using the SLS, powdery particles were fused together in such a way that the structure of the printed solid material resembles the structure of a powder bed. The MOF additive is firmly attached only on the surface of partially fused polymer particles and therefore remains accessible to fluids passing through the filter. Powder X-ray analysis of the printed object confirmed that printing did not have any negative impact on the structure of the MOF. CO2 -adsorption studies also showed that the activity of the MOF was not affected by the printing process. SLS offers a straightforward and easy way to fabricate tailor-made MOF-containing filters for practical applications.

Composites based on heparin and MIL-101(Fe): the drug releasing depot for anticoagulant therapy and advanced medical nanofabrication.

We describe the synthesis and properties of a new composite material based on heparin and MIL-101(Fe) metal-organic framework. The intrinsic instability of MIL-101(Fe) towards hydrolysis enables binding of heparin molecules to the framework structure as is evidenced by DFT calculations and adsorption experiments. The de novo formed heparin-MOF composites showed good biocompatibility in in vitro and demonstrated pronounced anticoagulant activity. The specific interaction between the bioactive molecule and the carrier is critical for the selective degradation of the complex in the body fluids and for the enhanced activity. Hep_MIL-101(Fe) composite could serve as a drug-releasing depot for nanofabrication and to introduce anticoagulant activity to medical devices and biocoatings. Addition of Hep_MIL-101(Fe) to a sol-gel derived thrombolytic matrix allowed the combination of anticoagulant and thrombolytic activities in a single hybrid nanomaterial that could be applied as a bioactive nanocoating for PTFE vein implants.