A hydrolytically stable amino-functionalized Zinc(II) metal-organic framework containing nanocages for selective gas adsorption and luminescent sensing

To achieve the selectivity of luminescent sensing and gas separation, an unprecedented nanocages based 3D amino-functionalized MOF, {(Me2NH2)[Zn(NH2-TCB)]}n (ZnMOF) was constructed through ligand pre-design strategy. ZnMOF contains a unique 1D triple [Zn(COO)]n helix chain SBU and forms 7.89 × 11.72 × 14.79 Å3 nanocages with the porosity up to 42.9%. Benefit from the outstanding thermal and chemical stabilities, the ZnMOF demonstrates considerable adsorption selectivity for CO2/CH4 and highly sensitive detectability to Cr(VI) anions and nitroimidazole/nitrofuran antibiotics in water. In addition, the high selective adsorption and sensing mechanisms were also explored. Therefore, ZnMOF is a multifunctional material in the efficient gas adsorption and separation, and the detection of Cr(VI) anions and nitroimidazole/nitrofuran antibiotics.