Boosting the in situ encapsulation of proteins with MIL-100(Fe): the role of strong Lewis acid centers

Encapsulation of biomolecules using Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) to form stable biocomposites has been demonstrated a valuable strategy for their preservation and controlled release, which has been however restricted to specific electrostatic surface conditions. We present a general in situ strategy that promotes the spontaneous MOF growth onto a broad variety of proteins, for the first time, regardless of their surface nature. We demonstrate that MOFs based on cations exhibiting considerable inherent acidity such as MIL-100(Fe) enable biomolecule encapsulation, including alkaline proteins previously inaccesible by the welldeveloped in situ encapsulation with azolate-based MOFs. In parti…