BioMOFs and Metallodrugs
One of the great challenges in the pharmaceutical industry is the search for more efficient and cost-effective ways to store and deliver existing drugs. Bio-inspired metalorganic frameworks (BioMOFs) are ground-breaking materials that have recently been explored for drug storage, delivery and controlled release as well as for applications in imaging and sensing for therapeutic and diagnostic. Indeed, MOFs are among the most exciting architectures in nanotechnology and are defined as hybrid self-assemblies of metal ions or metal clusters (coordination centers) and organic fragments (linkers). They exhibit some of the highest porosities known, turning them into ideal materials for capture, storage and/or delivery applications. Compared to other nanocarriers, MOFs are candidates to extensive applications since they combine high pore volume with a regular porosity, and the presence of tuneable organic groups allows an easy modulation of the framework as well as of the pore size. After being dedicated to the synthesis and characterization of metallodrugs and metallodrugs, we are now further exploring BioMOFs, using the drugs as ligands to build MOFs for controlled drug delivery and release. |
Selected publications:
Book Chapters:
- Sílvia Quaresma, Vânia André, Auguste Fernandes, M. Teresa Duarte, Mechanochemistry - a green methodology leading to metallodrugs, metallopharmaceuticals and bio-inspired metal-organic frameworks, Inorganic Chimica Acta, 2016, ASAP (DOI: 10.1016/j.ica.2016.09.033)
- Sofia Domingos, Vânia André*, Sílvia Quaresma, Inês C. B. Martins, M. Fátima Minas da Piedade, M. Teresa Duarte, New forms of Old drugs: improving without changing, Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 2015, 67(6), 830-846 (doi: 10.1111/jphp.12384)
- Sílvia Quaresma, Vânia André*, Alexandra M. M. Antunes, Luís Cunha-Silva, M. Teresa Duarte, Gabapentin coordination networks: mechanochemical synthesis and behavior under shelf conditions, Crystal Growth & Design, 2013, 13 (11), 5007–5017 (DOI: 10.1021/cg401187x)
- Vânia André, Andrew Hardeman, Ivan Halasz, Robin S. Stein, Graham J. Jackson, David G. Reid, Melinda J. Duer, Caroline Curfs, M. Teresa Duarte, Tomislav Friščić, Mechanosynthesis of the metallodrug bismuth subsalicylate from Bi2O3 and structure of bismuth salicylate without auxiliary orhanic ligands, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2011, 50(34), 7858-7861 (DOI: 10.1002/anie.201103171) Listed on the "Hot Topics" of sustainable chemistry by Wiley in August 2011; highlighted in http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/2011/09/2011-1101-mechanochemistry-greener-chemicals/ in December 2011)
- Dario Braga, Fabrizia Grepioni, Vânia André, M. Teresa Duarte, Drug-containing coordination and hydrogen bonding networks obtained mechanochemically, CrystEngComm, 2009, 11, 2618 – 2621 (DOI: 10.1039/B913433F)
Book Chapters:
- Vânia André, Sílvia Quaresma, Bio-inspired metalorganic frameworks in the pharmaceutical world: a brief review, 2016, Metal-Organic Frameworks, ISBN 978-953-51-4811-1, InTech
- Vânia André, Clara Gomes, M. Teresa Duarte, Mechanochemistry: a tool in the synthesis of catalysts, metallodrugs and metallopharmaceuticals, 2014, ICOMC Silver/Gold Jubilee Celebratory Book, ISBN: 978-1-118-51014-8, Wiley