Metal organic frameworks for antibacterial applications

The number of cases of bacterial resistance to antibiotics has been exponentially rising over the last decade. This issue is getting worse as the research and development of new antibiotics is much slower than the speed of pathogenic bacteria acquiring resistance to antibiotic treatment. To fight against antibacterial resistance, new therapeutic strategies have to be sought as alternatives to currently administered antibiotics. Many new materials, for instance, metal organic frameworks possess desirable properties such as improved bacterial internalization, flexible structural control, high selectivity, and controlled drug release and therefore, are potentially good candidates for antibacterial therapy to overcome antibiotic resistance. This review describes the most recent development of the field of the antibacterial applications of metal organic frameworks, and their hybrids and derivatives, followed by an in-depth analysis of their advantages, disadvantages and design factors of these materials. Finally, we present our insights into the important aspects of the future development of metal organic frameworks for antibacterial applications.