Selective antimicrobial and antibiofilm activity of metal–organic framework NH2-MIL-125 against Staphylococcus aureus

•NH2-MIL-125 has been primarily investigated for the antibacterial and antibiofilm activity.•NH2-MIL-125 of the square plate shape has specific antibacterial against S. aureus, whereas no activity was observed against E. coli.•NH2-MIL-125 has shown no cytotoxicity on HepG2 cells.•NH2-MIL-125 is a promising MOF for the design of antibacterial and antibiofilm agent against S. aureus. Bacteria are often found in polymicrobial communities. Some of them are beneficial while others might be harmful or even lethal. The use of non-specific antimicrobial is widespread as there is a lack of specific antimicrobials. Contact with the gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacterium is not only spreading the diseases but also initiating the massive loss in health-cost. Therefore, developing novel materials with antibacterial and antibiofilm is of great interest. In the present study, the metal–organic framework, NH2-MIL-125 has been synthesized, and primarily investigated for the antibacterial and antibiofilm activity. The synthesized NH2-MIL-125 is well characterized by PXRD, N2 adsorption/desorption isotherm and SEM. The results demonstrate the formation of uniformly crystalline, smooth-surfaced, square plate-shaped nanostructure. Further, the antimicrobial efficiency of NH2-MIL-125 was evaluated by microdilution followed by AlamarBlue and colony counting methods for S. aureus and Escherichia coli (E. coli, gram-negative). NH2-MIL-125 has shown specific antibacterial against S. aureus, whereas no activity was observed against E. coli. Similarly, the antibiofilm activity of NH2-MIL-125 evaluated by crystal violet staining has shown activity against S. aureus only. Moreover, NH2-MIL-125 has shown no cytotoxicity on HepG2 cells. Altogether, these results suggest that NH2-MIL-125 is a promising MOF for the design of antibacterial and antibiofilm agent against S. aureus.