Zeolitic imidazolate metal organic framework-8 as an efficient pH-controlled delivery vehicle for zinc phthalocyanine in photodynamic therapy

摘要: To improve the aqueous solubility and cancer targeting of photosensitizers in photodynamic therapy (PDT), we encapsulated photosensitizer a biocompatibility pH-sensitive drug delivery system, zeolitic imidazolate frameworks-8 (ZIF-8) nanospheres. Powder X-ray diffraction electron microscopy show that our nanospheres are uniform single-crystalline particles. Owing to cleavage zinc–ligand coordination bonds, more ZnPc–COOH were released much faster mild acidic conditions (pH 5.0 6.0) comparison with physiological environment 7.4). By incorporating ZIF-8, exhibited high singlet oxygen quantum yield intracellular ROS generation. Cell viability experiments toward HepG2 cells demonstrated low toxicity ZIF-8 good anticancer efficacy IC50 values (4.2–4.9 μg/mL) under light illumination (670 nm, 1.5 J/cm2). Collectively, these results suggested promising pH-responsive systems for PDT.