Synthesis of a tetraphenylethylene-based metal-organic framework as the luminescent sensor for selective sensing of Cr2O72- in aqueous solution

A new metal-organic framework, incorporated with the tetraphenylethylene moiety as four-point connected node and Nd(III) by the self-assembly strategy, has been synthesized (denoted as 1, [Nd(HTCPE)center dot CH3CH2O](n)) and structurally characterized. The single crystal X-ray diffraction indicated that 1 contained a three-dimensional framework with infinite metallic chains. The porous feature of 1 shows the typical microporous adsorption of N-2 molecules at 77 K. The benign luminescence of the tetraphenylethylene-based ligand provides this material ability as potential sensor via sensitive luminescence response. The experiments indicate that 1 could be regarded as a selective luminescent sensor of Cr2O72- toward a series of anions in aqueous solution.