Macroscopic HKUST crystals were shown to release significant amounts of copper in saline medium at a slow rate, which was exploited to control the growth of a bacterial population. This was achieved in both liquid and solid media, the latter illustrating the local effect of the crystals. In addition, these nanostructured crystals of observable size were loaded with chloramphenicol to exert a joint metal-antibiotic action, going beyond the traditional oligodynamic effect.
Keywords: antibiotics; controlled release; metal−organic framework; nano-biotechnology; size.