New Metal Complexes and Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) with Potential Biological Applications

As a cornerstone of synthetic chemistry, the coordination of organic ligands to ions/clusters has been used to prepare many types of materials, including metal complexes, metal–organic polyhedral, porous coordination polymers, porous coordination networks, and metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) [1]. These metal–organic materials are assembled by metal coordination, hydrogen bonding, electrostatic interactions or – stacking [2], exhibiting tunable structures, compositions and properties. Therefore, they are considered as promising candidates in the fields of catalysis, gas adsorption and separation, sensors, functional devices, etc [3]. Notably, biomedical applications have greatly benefited from the progress made by these metal–organic materials in the fields of diagnosis, monitoring, and therapy. Some of the biomedical applications of metal–organic materials include biosensors, biocatalysis, bioimaging, drug delivery, anticancer, antibacterial, and wound healing. This part mainly focuses on different types of metal complexes and MOFs for biomedical applications, specifically, for antibacterial and biosensing applications.