Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-an emerging class of hybrid porous materials built from metal ions or clusters bridged by organic linkers-have attracted increasing attention in recent years. The superior properties of MOFs, such as well-defined pore aperture, tailorable composition and structure, tunable size, versatile functionality, high agent loading, and improved biocompatibility, make them promising candidates as drug delivery hosts. Furthermore, scientists have made remarkable achievements in the field of nanomedical applications of MOFs, owing to their facile synthesis on the nanoscale and alternative functionalization via inclusion and surface chemistry. A brief introduction to the applications of MOFs in controlled drug/cargo delivery and cancer therapy that have been reported in recent years is provided here.

Metal-Organic Framework (MOF)-Based Drug/Cargo Delivery and Cancer Therapy.

Chemotherapy is currently one of the most effective ways to treat cancer. However, traditional chemotherapy faces several obstacles to clinical trials, such as poor solubility/stability, non-targeting capability and uncontrollable release of the drugs, greatly limiting their anticancer efficacy and causing severe side effects towards normal tissues. Supramolecular chemotherapy integrating non-covalent interactions and traditional chemotherapy is a highly promising candidate in this regard and can be appropriately used for targeted drug delivery. By taking advantage of supramolecular chemistry, some limitations impeding traditional chemotherapy for clinical applications can be solved effectively. Therefore, we present here a review summarizing the progress of supramolecular chemotherapy in cancer treatment based on host–guest recognition and provide guidance on the design of new targeting supramolecular chemotherapy combining diagnostic and therapeutic functions. Based on a large number of state-of-the-art studies, our review will advance supramolecular chemotherapy on the basis of host–guest recognition and promote translational clinical applications.

Supramolecular chemotherapy based on host–guest molecular recognition: a novel strategy in the battle against cancer with a bright future

This tutorial review summarizes the continuing exploration of three prominent water-soluble hosts: cucurbiturils, pillar[n]arenes and deep-cavity cavitands. As we describe, these hosts are revealing how orchestrating the hydrophobic effect can lead to a broad range of properties and applications, from: nano-reactors, supramolecular polymers, stimuli-responsive biointerfaces, switches, and novel purification devices. We also describe how their study is also revealing more details about the properties of water and aqueous solutions.

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The aqueous supramolecular chemistry of cucurbit[n]urils, pillar[n]arenes and deep-cavity cavitands

Covalent polymers connected by non-covalent interactions constitute a fascinating set of materials known as supramolecular polymer networks (SPNs). A key feature of SPNs is that the underlying covalent polymers endow the resulting self-assembled materials with features, such as structural and mechanical integrity, good processability, recyclability, stimuli-responsiveness, self-healing, and shape memory, that are not recapitulated in the case of classic covalent polymer systems. The unique nature of SPNs derives from the controlled marriage of traditional covalent polymers and macrocycle-based host-guest interactions. As a consequence, supramolecular polymeric networks have played important roles in a number of diverse fields, including polymer science, supramolecular chemistry, materials science, biomedical materials, and information storage technology. In this Review, we summarize advances made in the area of functional SPNs, with a focus on original literature reports appearing in the past five years. The treatment is organized according to the key macrocycle-based host-guest interactions used to produce various SPNs. The role of the underlying polymer backbones is also discussed.

Functional Supramolecular Polymeric Networks: The Marriage of Covalent Polymers and Macrocycle-Based Host-Guest Interactions

ConspectusPorous materials with high surface areas have drawn more and more attention in recent years because of their wide applications in physical adsorption and energy-efficient adsorptive separation processes. Most of the reported porous materials are macromolecular porous materials, such as zeolites, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), or porous coordination polymers (PCPs), and porous organic polymers (POPs) or covalent organic frameworks (COFs), in which the building blocks are linked together by covalent or coordinative bonds. These materials are barely soluble and thus are not solution-processable. Furthermore, the relatively low chemical, moisture, and thermal stability of most MOFs and COFs cannot be neglected. On the other hand, molecular porous materials such as porous organic cages (POCs), which have been developed very recently, also show promising applications in adsorption and separation processes. They can be soluble in organic solvents, making them solution-processable materials. However, ...

Nonporous Adaptive Crystals of Pillararenes

Efficient complexation between pillar[5]arenes and neutral guests: from host–guest chemistry to functional materials

Highly efficient complexation of sanguinarine alkaloid by carboxylatopillar[6]arene: pKa shift, increased solubility and enhanced antibacterial activity

Since their discovery in 2008, pillar[n]arenes have been a popular family of macrocyclic arene hosts due to their accessible one-step synthesis, convenient functionalization, symmetrical prism structures and perfect cavity host–guest properties. Compared with other macrocyclic hosts, the most peculiar recognition behavior of pillararenes is the strong binding affinities of pillar[5]arenes (P5As) towards neutral guests in organic media, which is unfeasible for classic crown ethers and calixarenes. The intriguing properties have found extensive applications in many fields from supramolecular chemistry to materials science. This feature article provides a detailed summary of the molecular recognition of P5As and neutral guests, where the driving forces, binding mechanisms, and binding selectivities are comprehensively discussed. Furthermore, brief highlights of research progress in the functional applications based on the neutral guest⊂P5A motifs were also discussed, including the construction of complex topological superstructures (e.g. rotaxanes, catenanes and daisy chains), supramolecular polymers, and functional materials.

Guchuan Ping

Papers

Efficient complexation between pillar[5]arenes and neutral guests: from host–guest chemistry to functional materials

Highly efficient complexation of sanguinarine alkaloid by carboxylatopillar[6]arene: pKa shift, increased solubility and enhanced antibacterial activity

Efficient Complexation Between Pillar[5]arenes and Neutral Guests: From Host—Guest Chemistry to Functional Materials