Two Lanthanide Metal–Organic Frameworks as Remarkably Selective and Sensitive Bifunctional Luminescence Sensor for Metal Ions and Small Organic Molecules

Two lanthanide metal–organic frameworks (Ln-MOFs) with similar structures have been synthesized through objective synthesis. The two compounds are both 2-fold interpenetrating 3D frameworks. Topological analyses reveal that complexes 1 and 2 are 6-connected pcu net. In addition, both structures were embedded in uncoordinated nitrogen atoms. As the uncoordinated pyridine groups can be used as functional groups, we tested their sensing ability toward metal ions and small organic molecules. To our delight, fluorescence measurements show the two complexes can selectively and sensitively detect for Fe³⁺ ion and nitromethane, which suggests that the two Ln-MOFs are promising bifunctional luminescence sensor materials with sensing metal ions and small organic molecules.