Amorphous Coordination Polymer Particles for Biomedicine

© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. All rights reserved. This chapter focuses on a specific class of coordination polymeric materials with different dimensionality, but with an amorphous superstructure. The terminology coordination polymer particles (CPPs) is used to designate the new emergent class of amorphous nanoparticles with highly tailorable size and properties that open up new perspectives in different fields, especially in medicine. The chapter outlines the most recent advances in the synthesis, characterization, and properties of CPPs with a high potential to be used as multifunctional platforms for theranostics, including smart drug-delivery systems, active nanostructures for bioimaging, or a combination of both. It compiles currently considerable effort to incorporate theranostics functions into a single nanoscale system for the more effective treatment of medical diseases, especially cancer. The chapter summarizes the most interesting coordination polymer nanodevices in the field of medicine, from encapsulation and drug delivery to bioimaging and sensing.