Porous Metal–Organic Frameworks with 5‑Aminoisophthalic Acid as Platforms for Functional Applications about High Photodegradation Efficiency of Phenol

Four novel complexes, [CoL­(H₂O)] (1), [ZnL­(H₂O)] (2), [Ni­(HL)₂(H₂O)₂]·2H₂O (3), and [CdL­(H₂O)]·H₂O (4) (L = 5-aminoisophthalic acid), were successfully synthesized by the reaction of transition metal salts and 5-aminoisophthalic acid at hydrothermal conditions. The four complexes were characterized by element analysis, infrared spectra, UV–vis spectra, powder X-ray diffraction analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis. X-ray single-crystal diffraction analysis showed that the four complexes were 3D network structures and contained pores with sizes of 7.05 to 14.67 Å. In addition, we investigated the photodegradation ability of the four complexes for phenol solution under UV irradiation. The results showed that the four complexes had a different degree of degradation ability to phenol solution. At the same time, we found that the degradation process was in accordance with the pseudo-second-order dynamics model, that is, the rate of degradation is controlled by the extra-particle process such as surface adsorption. Moreover, we further confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography that the complexes are indeed a significant ability to degrade phenol.