LAUSR

Abstract The present work was to investigate the zinc-based metal-organic frameworks (MOF-5) as oral drug delivery vehicle for the extended in-vitro release of antibiotic drug metronidazole (MTD). The MOF-5 was synthesized by the solvothermal process and characterized by a series of analytical techniques such as PXRD, FTIR, FESEM, HRTEM, TGA and BET. The TEM analysis of the drug loaded nanocomposite (MTD@MOF5) shows the particles size less than in the range of 40–90 nm in dimension. Adsorption of metronidazole on MOF-5 was then estimated as a function of pH in the aqueous drug solution, contact time and initial drug concentration. High loading of metronidazole was found to be 539.33 mg/g of MOF-5 at pH 2. The kinetic results follow the pseudo-second-order model and the isotherm was best described by Freundlich adsorption and Temkin isotherm model respectively. The comparison of in-vitro release behavior of metronidazole drug and the present nanocomposite were explored in the simulated gastric (PBS, pH 1.2) and simulated intestinal fluids (PBS, pH 7.4). The drug shows the excellent releasing power from the MTD@MOF5 nanocomposite as compare to the pure metronidazole drug in terms of availability for the extended time periods.