(Multivariate)-Metal–Organic Framework for Highly Efficient Antibiotic Capture from Aquatic Environmental Matrices

Contamination of aquatic environments by pharmaceuticals
used by
modern societies has become a serious threat to human beings. Among
them, antibiotics are of particular concern due to the risk of creating
drug-resistant bacteria and, thus, developing efficient protocols
for the capture of this particular type of drug is mandatory. Herein,
we report a family of three isoreticular MOFs, derived from natural
amino acids, that exhibit high efficiency in the removal of a mixture
of four distinct families of antibiotics, such as fluoroquinolones,
penicillins, lincomycins, and cephalosporins, as solid-phase extraction
(SPE) sorbents. In particular, a multivariate (MTV)-MOF, prepared
using equal percentages of amino acids l-serine and l-methionine, also exhibits outstanding recyclability, surpassing
the benchmark material activated carbon. The good removal performance
of the MTV-MOF was rationalized by means of single-crystal X-ray diffraction.
These results highlight the situation of MOFs as a real and promising
alternative for the capture of antibiotics from environmental matrices,
especially wastewater streams.