Biodiesel is an alternative, sustainable, renewable, and environmentally friendly energy source, which has generated interest from the scientific community due to its low toxicity, rapid biodegradability, and zero carbon footprint. Biodiesel is a biofuel produced by the transesterification of triglycerides or the esterification of free fatty acids (FFA). Both reactions require catalysts with numerous active sites (basic, acidic, bifunctional, or enzymatic) for efficient biodiesel production. On the other hand, since the late 1990s, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as a new class of porous materials and have been successfully used in various fields due to their multiple properties. For this reason, MOFs have been used as heterogeneous catalysts or as a platform for designing active sites, thus improving stability and reusability. This literature review presents a comprehensive analysis of using MOFs as heterogeneous catalysts or supports for biodiesel production. The optimal parameters for transesterification/esterification are detailed, such as the alcohol/feedstock molar ratio, catalyst amount, reaction time and temperature, conversion percentage, biodiesel yield, fatty acid and water content, etc. Additionally, novel methodologies such as ultrasound and microwave irradiation for obtaining MOF-based catalysts are described. It is important to note that most studies have shown biodiesel yields >90% and multiple reuse cycles with minimal activity loss. The bibliographic analysis was conducted using the American Chemical Society (ACS) Scifinder^® database, the Elsevier B.V. Scopus^® database, and the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science^® database, under the institutional license of the Universidad Veracruzana. Keywords were searched for each section, generally limiting the document type to “reviews” and “journals,” and the language to English, and published between 2000 and 2025.

Despite multiple advances in treatment and prevention, cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Chemotherapy remains the most effective method for cancer treatment. However, commercial chemotherapeutic drugs have limited efficacy, severe side effects, and acquired resistance. Therefore, the scientific community has devoted a great effort to designing new, more effective, and cheaper drugs. In this sense, copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition reactions (CuAAC) provide 1,4-disubstituted 1H-1,2,3-triazoles in high yields without forming by-products. This reaction allows the easy, efficient, functional, ordered, rapid, selective, and specific joining of small molecules, giving rise to more complex molecules. The CuACC reaction simplifies the synthesis processes, accelerating the discovery of new chemotherapeutic agents by allowing the joining of commercial platinum drugs, slightly altering their structure, or creating new molecules with improved properties. This work shows the importance of CuAAC reactions in the search for new metallodrugs with possible anticancer activity.

During the sugar production process, undesirable compounds such as dextrans are produced and contaminate the flow of the sugar mill, reaching levels in the fluid of more than 10,000 ppm. Dextranase is an enzyme that has different industrial applications, since it catalyzes the hydrolysis of the bonds in random sites of the dextran. Therefore, the enzyme was immobilized using synthesized ferrite magnetic nanoparticles to degrade dextran in the fermented mash, because it is suitable to reuse and has a large surface area to bind dextranase on a solid carrier for easy magnetic separation. The synthesized bare and modified nanoparticles were characterized using SEM, EDS, FTIR, and XRD and confirmed the core–shell silica by increasing the silica composition from 0.2% of bare Fe₃O₄ NPs to 31.3% of modified Fe₃O₄ NPs. Ultrasonic treatment reduced the calculated crystal size with Scherer’s equation from 91.3 to 13.5 nm, providing more particles for immobilization. The solvothermal process synthesized ferrite nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄) and modified them with TEOS and PEI. The obtained immobilization efficiency was 28%. Perhaps it was lower; Fe₃O₄ degraded almost the same as the free enzyme. The percentage of dextran degradation with free enzymes and immobilized enzymes with Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles was 61 and 52%, respectively.

El uso de los polímeros metal orgánicos (MOFs, por sus siglas en inglés) como catalizadores heterogéneos en el proceso de transesterificación de aceites vegetales y otras materias primas para la producción de biodiésel, han sido de gran ayuda para la reducción de gases tóxicos, gases de efecto invernadero y otros contaminantes químicos. Se conoce que el biodiésel es un combustible amigable que ayuda a reducir los efectos producidos durante la quema de combustibles fósiles y su obtención es fácil comparada con la de los combustibles convencionales. La ventaja del uso de los MOFs en reacciones catalíticas es que pueden reutilizarse en diversas ocasiones, lo que permite obtener productos más puros y reducir la contaminación.