Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are a class of crystalline materials that consists of coordination bonds between transition metal cations and multidentate organic linkers. MOFs are well ordered, lattice like crystals. The nodes of lattices are metals- such as copper, zinc, nickel and cobalt.

The most impressive features of MOFs are their high surface area (up to 10000 m2g-1),high porosity (up to 90%)and tunable pore sizes, which are remarkable advantages over other porous materials (e.g Zeolites and carbons).

With their special structure and large surface area, MOFs open up new opportunities for alternative systems for gas and energy storage (e.g. carbon dioxide and hydrogen storage), chemical sensing, as nano reactors, in drug delivery, and separation in catalysis.

The inherent properties of MOFs make them great candidates for drug delivery systems. Firstly, there are multiple pathways to incorporate guest molecules within the MOFs and Secondly, the tailorable interactions between the guest molecules and MOF linkers or metal nodes allow for high drug loading capacity.

Additionaly, the tunable sizes of MOF crystals enhance optimization for cellular uptake, the potential for chemical-environment-dependent dissociation of MOF species for stimuli-responsive and triggered guest release, as well as the biocompatibility of certain classes of MOFs at uptake concentrations.