Investigation of the Mesoporous Metal-Organic Framework as a New Platform To Study the Transport Phenomena of Biomolecules

Mesoporous materials, Tb-mesoMOF and MCM-41, were used to study the transport phenomena of biomolecules entering the interior pores from solution. Vitamins B-12 and B-2 were successfully encapsulated into these mesoporous materials, whereas Tb-mesoMOF (0.33 g of B-12/g, 0.01 g of B-2/g) adsorbed a higher amount of vitamin per mass than MCM-41 (0.21 g of B-12/g, 0.002 g of B-2/g). The diffusion mechanism of the biomolecules entering Tb-mesoMOF was evaluated using a mathematical model. The Raman spectroscopy studies showed vitamin B-12 has been encapsulated within Tb-mesoMOFs pores, and evaluation of the peak shifts indicated strong interactions linking vitamin B(12)s pyrroline moiety with Tb-mesoMOFs triazine and benzoate rings. Because of these stronger interactions between the vitamins and Tb-mesoMOF, longer egress times were observed than with MCM-41.