Anionic metal–organic framework hybrids: functionalization with lanthanide ions or cationic dyes and fluorescence sensing of small molecules

A zinc-based anionic metal–organic framework, [HDMA]2[Zn2(BDC)3(DMA)]·6DMF (HDMA+: dimethylammonium, BDC2−: 1,4-benzenedicarboxilate, DMA: dimethylamine and DMF: N,N′-dimethylformamide) has been solvothermally synthesized. And its cations, HDMA+, are exchanged by various lanthanides to form the hybrid systems via a post-synthetic process. These lanthanide(III)-loaded materials have shown different luminescent behaviors, indicating that this kind of anionic MOF could effectively sensitive lanthanides and be used as a potential luminescent probe towards different lanthanide ions. Besides, this system exhibits selective adsorption ability to cationic dyes, such as Rhodamine B, Basic Red 2 and Methylene Blue. RhB@1 has a fastest selection and realizes the probing of various organic solvent molecules as well as volatile organic benzenes (VOBs), especially for sensing acetone and aniline.