pH modulated luminescent switching and discriminative detection of amino acid based on metal-organic framework.

The detection of glutamic (Glu) or aspartic (Asp) acids is vital for human nutrition and diagnosis of disease. Herein, the dht ligand containing hydroxy group (-OH) is used to design and synthesize a 2D luminescent [Cd(idc)(dht)(HO)] (1); Hidc = 4,5-imidazoledicarboxylic acid and Hdht = 2,5-dihydroxyterephthalic acid for sensing amino acids. The compound 1 can discriminatively detect Asp and Glu among other amino acids through blue-shifted emission (yellow → green).

2D-1D structural phase transformation of Co(II) 3,5-pyridinedicarboxylate frameworks with chromotropism.

Two new metal-organic frameworks [Co(pydc)(H(2)O)(2)](n) (1) and [Co(pydc)(H(2)O)(4)](n)(H(2)O)(n) (2), (pydc = 3,5-pyridinedicarboxylate) have been synthesized by a diffusion method and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The structure of 1 reveals an infinite 2D layer with honeycomb-like cavities in which each pydc ligand bridges three Co(II) ions. The adjacent 2D layers are orderly packed in an ABAB-type array via intermolecular interactions of the combined π-π stacking and hydrogen bonds to form a 3D supramolecular architecture.