UiO-66-NH₂as an effective solid support for quinazoline derivatives for antibacterial agents against Gram-negative bacteria

Nanomaterials have been widely used as a class of antibacterial drugs. However, the bottlenecks of this class of materials are their significant aggregation and accumulation, as well as toxicity resulting from excessive metal leaching. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have inspired researchers owing to their distinct characteristics of robust architecture and tunable pore structures, which may help overcome the above challenges. We, herein, synthesize UiO-66-NH2 and use it as a solid support for loading quinazoline derivatives that are specifically designed and active against Gram-negative bacteria. The quinazoline derivatives were adsorbed on UiO-66-NH2 nanoparticles to form new UiO-66-NH2-quinazoline formulations which have a large inhibitory zone against Gram-negative bacteria, compared to that of free quinazoline compounds. This work has the potential for increasing antibacterial activity while also broadening the antibacterial range, and thus opens a pathway for new medical applications using MOFs.