Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Chemical Papers https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-020-01068-7 ORIGINAL PAPER Synthesis and characterization of amino and cyano‑functionalized zinc‑terephthalate metal–organic frameworks for loading of piroxicam drug A. C. Tella 1  · S. E. Eliagwu 1  · M. Amali 2  · A. T. Kola‑Mustapha 3  · S. J. Olatunji 1  · F. Ishola 1  · V. O. Adimula 1  · O. S. Oluwafemi 4,5 Received: 14 July 2019 / Accepted: 18 January 2020 © Institute of Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences 2020 Abstract Piroxicam is a member of the oxicam group known to be nonsteroidal anti-infammatory drugs (NSAID) which are used in the treatment of pain and arthritis. To improve its efectiveness and lessen the occurrence of side efects, the need to develop drug carrier systems tuned towards improved loading capability and controlled release is imperative. We herein report the synthesis of the zinc-terephthalate metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and its functionalization by incorporation of amino and cyano groups using ethylenediamine (en) and malononitrile (MN), respectively, for the delivery of piroxicam drug. The functionalized and unfunctionalized MOFs were characterized using elemental analysis, Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and Powder X-ray difraction (PXRD). BET analysis showed that the zinc terephthalate, zinc terephthalate–en and zinc terephthalate–MN have a surface area and total pore volume of 3130 m 2 /g (1.437 cm 3 /g), 3069 m 2 /g (1.361 cm 3 /g) and 2975 m 2 /g (1.232 cm 3 /g), respectively. The amounts of drug (Piroxicam) loaded on zinc terephthalate and zinc terephthalate–en are 92.06 wt% and 95.23 wt%, respectively. This work reveals that the as-synthesized functionalized MOFs can serve as promising candidates for the deliv- ery of the piroxicam drug and other nonsteroidal anti-infammatory drugs. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-020-01068-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * A. C. Tella ac_tella@yahoo.co.uk * O. S. Oluwafemi oluwafemi.oluwatobi@gmail.com 1 Laboratory of Synthetic Inorganic and Materials Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria 2 Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria 3 Department of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria 4 Department of Chemical Sciences (Formerly Applied Chemistry), University of Johannesburg, Doornfontein Campus, Doornfontein, P.O. Box 17011, Johannesburg 2028, South Africa 5 Centre for Nanomaterials Science Research, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa