Gelatin-Coated Copper-Based Metal–Organic Framework for Controlled Insulin Delivery: Possibility toward Oral Delivery System

The development of nontoxic, hemocompatible materials for controlled insulin delivery is a great challenging task for researchers. Herein, we demonstrate the design of a novel linker 5,5′-((pyridine-2,6-diylbis(methylene)) bis(oxy))diisophthalic acid (H4L) and its utilization to synthesize a new Cu-MOF (IITI-3). IITI-3 crystallizes in a tetragonal crystal system with space group I4/mmm and shows a high Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area of 1026.5 m2/g with pore diameter (Barrett–Joyner–Halenda pore size distribution) of 3.413 nm. The IITI-3 is found to be stable in the biological fluid pH ranges from 3 to 10. Moreover, IITI-3 were explored for insulin delivery by coating the IITI-3 with gelatin (gel@insIITI-3); the overall insulin was controlled from the framework. The obtained result paves a new avenue for the oral delivery of insulin using the IITI-3 metal-organic framework.