Cyclodextrin-based metal-organic frameworks particles as efficient carriers for lansoprazole: Study of morphology and chemical composition of individual particles

Cyclodextrin-based metal-organic frameworks (CD-MOFs) represent an environment-friendly and biocompatible class of MOFs drawing increasing attention in drug delivery. Lansoprazole (LPZ) is a proton-pump inhibitor used to reduce the production of acid in the stomach and recently identified as an antitubercular prodrug. Herein, LPZ loaded CD-MOFs were successfully synthesized upon the assembly with γ-CD in the presence of K+ ions using an optimized co-crystallization method. They were characterized in terms of morphology, size and crystallinity, showing almost perfect cubic morphologies with monodispersed size distributions. The crystalline particles, loaded or not with LPZ, have mean diameters of around 6 μm. The payloads reached 23.2 ± 2.1% (wt) which corresponds to a molar ratio of 1:1 between LPZ and γ-CD. It was demonstrated that even after two years storage, the incorporated drug inside the CD-MOFs maintained its spectroscopic characteristics. Molecular modelling provided a deeper insight into the interaction between the LPZ and CD-MOFs. Raman spectra of individual particles were recorded, confirming the formation of inclusion complexes within the tridimensional CD-MOF structures. Of note, it was found that each individual particle had the same chemical composition. The LPZ-loaded particles had remarkable homogeneity in terms of both drug loading and size. These results pave the way towards the use of CD-MOFs for drug delivery purposes.