Carbon Dots Embedded Magnetic Nanoparticles @Chitosan @Metal Organic Framework as a Nanoprobe for pH Sensitive Targeted Anticancer Drug Delivery

Recently, nanoscale metal organic frameworks (NMOFs) have been demonstrated as a promising carrier for drug delivery, as they possess many advantages like large surface area, high porosity, and tunable functionality. However, there are no reports about the functionalization of NMOFs, which combines cancer-targeted drug delivery/imaging, magnetic property, high drug loading content, and pH sensitive drug release into one system. Existing formulations for integrating target molecules into NMOF are based on multistep synthetic processes. However, in this study, we report an approach that combines NMOF (IRMOF-3) synthesis and target molecule (Folic acid) encapsulation on the surface of chitosan modified magnetic nanoparticles in a single step. A noticeable feature of chitosan is control and pH responsive drug release for several days. More importantly, doxorubicin (DOX) was incorporated into magnetic NMOF formulation and showed high drug loading (1.63 g DOX g(-1) magnetic NMOFs). To demonstrate the optical imaging, carbon dots (CDs) are encapsulated into the synthesized magnetic NMOF, thereby endowing fluorescence features to the nanoparticles. These folate targeted magnetic NMOF possess more specific cellular internalization toward folate-overexpressed cancer (HeLa) cells in comparison to normal (L929) cells.