Nanoparticles of metal-organic cages designed to encapsulate platinum-based anticancer agentsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Experimental details regarding the synthesis and characterization of 1 and 2, fluorescence studies, UV-vis studies, cryo-EM, dialysis, cell culture, the MTT assay, and flow cytometry. See DOI: 10.1039/c7dt03537c

We present a novel design to use metal-organic cages (MOCs) to encapsulate Pt-based anticancer agents for delivery. A fluorescein-conjugated Pt( iv ) prodrug of cisplatin is developed for its encapsulation in a cationic MOC via host-guest interactions, which then forms drug-loaded nanoparticles with an anionic polymer. This work demonstrates the use of nanoformulation to develop metal-organic cages to encapsulate Pt-based anticancer agents for delivery.