Cavity-directed nitroaromatics sensing within a carbazole-based luminescent supramolecular M2L3 cage

The design and preparation of luminescent M2L3 metal-organic cage via the coordination-driven self-assembly of carbazole-based ligand with a V-shaped geometry is described. The cage Zn-L1 with an open cavity which equipped aromatic rich ligands shows the highest emission quenching efficiency towards picric acid than other nitroaromatic explosives. The quenching ability depended on whether there formed the host-guest molecules are well explored by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), and isothermal titration microcalorimetry (ITC).