Pillar-Layered Metal-Organic Frameworks for Sensing Specific Amino Acid and Photocatalyzing Rhodamine B Degradation.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have presented potential for detection of specific species and catalytic application due to their diverse framework structures and functionalities. In this work, two novel pillar-layered MOFs [Cd 6 (DPA) 2 (NTB) 4 (H 2 O) 4 ] n ·n(DPA·5DMA·H 2 O) ( 1 ) and [Cu 2 (DPA)(OBA) 2 ] n ·n(2.5DMF·H 2 O) ( 2 ) [DPA = 2,5-di(pyridin-4-yl)aniline, H 3 NTB = 4,4',4''-nitrilotribenzoic acid, H 2 OBA = 4,4'-oxydibenzoic acid, DMA = N,N-dimethylacetamide, DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide] were successfully synthesized and structurally characterized. Both 1 and 2 have three-dimensional framework structures. The fluorescent property of 1 makes it possible for sensing specific amino acid such as L-glutamic acid (Glu) and L-aspartic acid (Asp). While MOF 2 was found to be suitable for photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) in the presence of H 2 O 2 . The results imply that MOFs are versatile and metal centers are important in determining their properties.