TÜBİTAK 2247-A Ulusal Lider Araştırmacılar Programı

Synthesis and Applications of Functionalized Metal Organic Frameworks-Based Micro/Nano Motors

Micro/Nano Motors are machines used in many areas such as health, environment and energy storage. Inspired by the fascinating molecular motors and motile organisms, scientists have used different strategies to produce autonomous micro- and nanomotors in the last decade. These man-made micro- and nanomotors can move through liquids by converting different forms of energy into mechanical motion. Nanomotors can often be used for catalysis, biosensing and site-specific drug delivery. Nanotechnology has enabled rapid developments in nanomachines for various biomedical applications, including drug delivery, due to their loading and transport capabilities. Therefore, they hold promise for the treatment of diseases. Nanomotors with very different excitation mechanisms can be used as chemically operated drug delivery nanovehicles and fuel-free drug delivery platforms. Recently, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), which are crystalline coordination polymers with very strong adsorption properties and high porosity, have been proposed as basic building blocks in several small-scale engine designs. These materials have properties required for mobile micro- and nanodevices, such as therapeutic loading capacity, high cargo loading capacity, biodegradation and clearance, biocompatibility, and responsiveness to stimuli. Micro- and nanoscale motor platforms created using MOF structures that have the ability to move between various liquids through different means, such as autonomously or through the use of external energy sources, herald a new era in on-the-fly chemistry applications. In this project, where drug delivery applications were chosen as a model, it was aimed to create MOF-based MNM platforms, also called MOF-BOT, due to their ability to move in liquids, for combination treatments of chemotherapeutic drugs. The ability of man-made nanomotors to rapidly deliver therapeutic payloads to their targets represents a new approach to nanomedicine. As future micro/nanomachines become more powerful and functional, these small devices are expected to perform more challenging biomedical tasks and benefit different drug delivery applications.

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