ANR PRC MOF SONG

Dates:
2025 – 2029

Project coordinator:
Laboratoire Multimatériaux et Interfaces, Lyon (LMI)

Partner laboratories :

• IMN
• Very High Field NMR Center of Lyon (CRMN, Lyon)
• Chemistry and Interdisicplinarity, Synthesis, Analysis and Modeling (CEISAM, Nantes)
• Reactions and Process Engineering Laboratory (LRGP, Nancy)

IMN staff involved:
Thomas DEVIC, Romain GAUTIER

New MOFs for singlet oxygen storage and diffusion

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is based on the interaction between a photosensitizer (PS), light and ground-state oxygen (3O2). They produce highly reactive oxygen species such as cytotoxic singlet oxygen (1O2), which is used against cancer and microbial pathogens. PDT currently faces two major limitations:

• control of oxygen supply
• limited penetration of light into tissues

MOFSONG tackles both these challenges by proposing innovative materials capable of decoupling the light irradiation and singlet oxygen release stages.

The proposed approach involves the design and synthesis of porous Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) combining two types of organic ligands: arenes and porphyrins in a single structure.

Porphyrins are excellent photosensitizers capable of generating 1O2, while arenes are aromatic molecules capable of trapping this 1O2 in their structure through the reversible formation of endoperoxide (EPO). Thus, EPO-containing MOFs can be generated by illumination at the optimum porphyrin excitation wavelength and stored at low temperature until they are used to controllably release singlet oxygen into the desired environment by heating. Project objectives include the synthesis of molecular building blocks, the development of porous materials, comprehensive structural and spectroscopic studies and the investigation of the dynamics of 1O2 generation, storage and release. The success of the project is ensured by an interdisciplinary consortium of five partners who bring to the project all the necessary expertise and state-of-the-art equipment.