Imine-Linked Covalent Organic Frameworks: A Biocompatible and pH-Dependent Carrier for In Vitro Sustained Release of Doxorubicin

[Image: see text] Among the novel drug delivery systems (DDSs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs) show promising features in pharmaceutical science. In this paper, an imine-linked COF with hexagonal topology was synthesized using the autoclave condition. Then, the prepared COF (APB-COF) was used as a pH-dependent carrier for in vitro release of doxorubicin (DOX). The intrinsic properties of APB-COF caused reaching an excellent drug encapsulation efficiency. DOX@APB-COF shows an exemplary pH-dependent release in two different pHs. DOX release at pH = 7.4 was 32%, which increased to 54% by changing the pH to the cancer cell pH (pH = 5.4). Moreover, the cytotoxicity of APB-COF and DOX@APB-COF was studied using the standard MTT test against MCF10 (normal breast cell line) and MDAmb231 cells (breast cancer cell line), respectively. It was observed that the APB-COF does not affect cell proliferation, whereas the DOX@APB-COF only limits cancer cell proliferation. Using APB-COF as the drug carrier can pave the way for using COFs in innovative DDSs.