Unprecedented α-cyclodextrin metal-organic frameworks with chirality: Structure and drug adsorptions

An assembly of cyclodextrin metal-organic frameworks (CD-MOFs) has aroused extensive research interests due to their excellent encapsulation capacity and biocompatibility. In this work, starting from the chiral building block a-cyclodextrin (alpha-CD), a novel alpha-CD-MOF compound with left-handed chiral helices, [Na(H2O)(C36H60O30)].H2O (Na-alpha-CD-MOF), was synthesized through changing the diffusion solvent, and then structurally characterized. Single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that Na-alpha-CDMOF exhibits a 3D left-handed helical chiral framework with large cavities (740 angstrom(3)). The result of a drug adsorption assay shows Na-alpha-CD-MOF possesses a more efficient drug adsorption capacity than alpha-CD matrix, and the solubility of the drug adsorbed in Na-alpha-CD-MOF can be greatly enhanced. All the results, including the lower cytotoxicity, indicate that Na-alpha-CD-MOF is an excellent kind of renewable, environmental friendly and biocompatibility drug carrier material. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.