The highly ordered hybrid organic-inorganic materials known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have properties such as defined crystallinity, permanent porosity and high surface area. Lanthanide-based MOFs incorporate highly coordinated metal centers that impart specific properties to the material. There are diverse applications for lanthanide-based MOFs such as photoluminescence, chemical sensing, or drug delivery. In particular, holmium (Ho) has shown promise in cancer therapy since the radioactive isotope holmium-166 (166Ho) can be generated by neutron activation of the 100% naturally abundant 165Ho. A suitable 166Ho carrier system has a high Ho content, is chemically and thermally stable (to withstand neutron-activation), and have low toxicity. A Ho-based MOF has the potential to act as a radiotherapeutic system by incorporating Ho in the structure with additional advantages derived from the inherent properties of MOFs. The research to be presented focuses on the synthesis and characterization of a series of Ho-MOFs. Around a dozen structures containing dicarboxylate-type linkers have been synthesized under different conditions (see attached figure). The effects of these conditions on the final crystal structure will be the emphasis of the discussion. Furthermore, the potential of these structure as radiotherapeutic agents will also be covered.

Structure tuning in a series of holmium-based MOFs: Building a radiotherapeutic system

2019 Spring National Meeting

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