Luminescent MOF material based on cadmium(ii) and mixed ligands: application for sensing volatile organic solvent molecules

Abstract

A luminescent metal–organic framework, [Cd₂(TBA)₂(bipy)(DMA)₂] (1), has been synthesized under solvothermal conditions by employing mixed ligands of 4-(1H-tetrazol-5-yl)-benzoic acid (H₂TBA) and 4,4′-bipyridine (bipy). Structure analysis shows that compound 1 is a three-dimensional network with a new (3,4,4)-connected topology. Compound 1 possesses the advantages of good water stability and exceptional thermal stability; it can retain framework crystallinity when it was suspended in water vapor for 10 hours or heated in air at 320 °C. Interestingly, when compound 1 detected different volatile organic solvent molecules, the variation of luminescence intensity depends on the various organic solvents and acetone shows the best quenching behavior. The results indicate that compound 1 may be considered as a potential luminescent probe for the detection of acetone.