Zn(ii)-based coordination polymer: An emissive signaling platform for the recognition of an explosive and a pesticide in an aqueous system.

A new emissive Zn(ii)-based coordination polymer (Zn-CP) bearing paddle-wheel clusters has been developed and the same has been demonstrated to have potential for recognising a nitroaromatic-based explosive (TNP) and a pesticide (2,6-DCNA) in aqueous solution. The structural integrity of this newly developed 2D material was established through single-crystal analysis, whereas the stability of Zn-CP in aqueous medium after the recognition process was investigated by the powder-XRD technique. A combination of experimental and theoretical studies revealed that the change in fluorescence intensity of Zn-CP while interacting with TNP and 2,6-DCNA was possibly due to simultaneous operation of PET and FRET. Experimentally, it was also established that Zn-CP can be reused in up to three cycles for the detection of TNP and 2,6-DCNA.