Mechanistic insights into the antibacterial property of MIL-100 (Fe) metal-organic framework

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) have gained immense importance regarding water treatment in the last decade. In this work, an iron (Fe) based highly porous MOF (MIL-100 (Fe)) has been explored for its antibacterial property. The synthesis of the said MOF was carried out in a facile green route without using hydrofluoric acid. MIL-100 (Fe) was characterized in terms of its surface area (1704 m2/g) and surface zeta potential (pHZPC = 7.6, 21.6 mV at pH 2). The stuctural integrity of the prepared MOF was verified by XRD analysis. The prepared MOF was subjected to antibacterial study in simulated as well as real life sample. In the simulated study, effect of MIL-100 (Fe) on both gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and gram negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria was observed. It can be inferred from the study that the bactericidal effect of MIL-100 (Fe) can be attributed to the generation of reactive oxygen species and the MOF was more effective towards the gram negative strain.