Novel Approach to Synthesis of CoFe2O4@ ZIF‑67 Nanohybrid and its Potential as a Controlled Release System of Doxorubicin Drug

Abstract

Drug nanocarriers offer an effective approach to reduce off-target toxicity in cancer therapy. Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) are promising drug carriers due to their unique properties. In this study, we synthesized CoFe2O4@ ZIF-67 core–shell nanocomposite via co-precipitation under an ammonia atmosphere at 25 °C and loaded it with DOX at various concentrations. The CoFe2O4@ ZIF-67 nanohybrid achieved high drug loading efficiencies of 98.6% (50 ppm) and 98.2% (500 ppm), surpassing CoFe2O4 (94.1% at 500 ppm) and ZIF-67 (96.2% at 500 ppm). Drug release was evaluated in saline phosphate buffer at pH 7.4 and 5.5 at 37 °C for 168 h using a UV–Vis spectrophotometer. At 500 ppm, release rates for CoFe2O4@ ZIF- 67@DOX were 28.4% at pH 7.4 and 36.07% at pH 5.5, compared to CoFe2O4@ DOX (39.8% at pH 7.4, 24.25% at pH 5.5) and ZIF-67@DOX (19.7% at pH 7.4, 33.4% at pH 5.5). These results highlight the CoFe2O4@ ZIF-67@DOX nanohybrid’s superior drug loading and controlled release, making it a promising candidate for targeted drug delivery. All synthesized nanostructures were identified using infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), BET analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).