Mineralization endows MOFs with magnetism

The mineralization of magnetic iron compounds is ubiquitous in nature. Aside from their occurrence in geological materials, iron‐based magnetic minerals can be found in a wide variety of organisms, ranging from bacteria to vertebrates. Biogenic magnets serve as receptors of the Earth's magnetic field, allowing organisms to navigate. Mineralization of magnetic mass occurs in a dynamic environment where several chemical reactions take place simultaneously. Inspired by these naturally occurring processes, we have designed a direct approach in which the mineralization of magnetic material is concomitant to the growth of a MOF. By using optimal combinations of salts and ligands, zeolitic imidazolate framework composite structures with ferrimagnetic behavior can be readily obtained via a one‐step synthetic procedure, that is, without the incorporation of extrinsic magnetic components. The ferrimagnetism of the composite originates from binary oxides of iron and transition metals such as cobalt. This approach exhibits similarities to the natural mineralization of iron oxide species, as is observed in ores and in biomineralization.

Such MOF composites can be combined with biodegradable polymers and cutting-edge 3D printing techniques to fabricate microrobots for targeted and stimuli-responsive drug delivery.

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1. Terzopoulou, A.; Hoop, M.; Chen, X. Z.*; Hirt, A. M.; Charilaou, M.; Shen, Y.; Mushtaq, F.; Pérez del Pino, A.; Logofatu, C.; Simonelli, L.; deMello, A. J.; Doonan, C. J.; Nelson, B. J.; sort, J.; Pané, S.*; Puigmartí-Luis, J.*, Mineralization-inspired synthesis of magnetic zeolitic imidazole frameworks. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2019, 58, 13550-13555.

2. Terzopoulou, A.; Wang, X.; Chen, X. Z.*; Palacios-Corella, M.; Pujante, C.; Herrero-Martín, J.; Qin, X.-H.; Sort, J.; deMello, A. J.; Nelson, B. J.; Puigmartí-Luis, J.*; Pané, S., Biodegradable Metal–Organic Framework‐Based Microrobots (MOFBOTs). Advanced Healthcare Materials, 2020, e2001031.