Metal–organic frameworks for pesticide remediation: From adsorption and photocatalysis to health‐relevant risk reduction

Conventional remediation strategies implicitly assume that efficient pollutant removal equates to effective health-risk mitigation; however, growing epidemiological and microbiome evidence challenges this assumption, particularly for pesticide exposure. Accumulating studies demonstrate that pesticide residues and their transformation products can disrupt gut microbial homeostasis and metabolic regulation, indicating that removal efficiency alone is insufficient to evaluate remediation success. Against this backdrop, this review advances a risk-oriented paradigm for pesticide remediation by redefining metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) from high-performance adsorbents or photocatalysts into exposure-modulating materials bridging environmental decontamination with human health protection. We summarize recent progress in MOF design for pesticide adsorption and photocatalytic degradation, emphasizing structure-function relationships governing molecular recognition, pore confinement, surface chemistry and degradation-pathway control. Beyond performance metrics, this work examines how MOF-enabled adsorption and photocatalysis shape transformation-product profiles determining biological perturbation potential. Evidence linking pesticide exposure to gut microbiota dysbiosis and metabolic disorders underscores the health relevance of pathway-selective remediation. Finally, we outline future directions toward health-relevant remediation, advocating a shift from pollutant-centric efficiency metrics to risk relevant endpoints considering exposure profiles and biological disruption. By coupling programmable molecular selectivity with pathway-controlled degradation, MOFs emerge as enabling platforms for next-generation remediation strategies advancing environmental sustainability and human health protection. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.