Metal–Organic Framework Based on Pyrazinoquinoxaline Tetracarboxylic Acid for Fluorescence Sensing for Nitro Explosives

The rapid and selective detection of nitro explosives has become one of the current urgent environmental and safety issues. Fluorescent metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) provide strong support for the development of photoactive materials with excellent sensing performances. In this work, Zn2+ and pyrazinoquinoxaline tetracarboxylic acid with high nitrogen content were selected to construct a MOF structure termed Zn-MOF, which had excellent optical properties. The fluorescence sensing performance of Zn-MOF for nitro explosives was also investigated. The structural advantages of Zn-MOF, such as its porous structure, abundant host–guest interaction sites, and stable framework, ensure the prerequisites for various applications. Zn-MOF is not only capable of responding to a wide range of substrates, such as Fe3+, Cr2O72–, and MnO4–, to achieve fluorescence quenching detection but also able to achieve sensitive fluorescence sensing behavior for nitro explosives. In particular, for trinitrotoluene, the Ksv value can reach 8.72 × 103 M–1. The results show that the introduction of pyrazinoquinoxaline groups into MOFs can be an effective strategy for the preparation of highly efficient fluorescent sensing materials for nitro explosives.