Urea-containing metal-organic frameworks for carbonyl compounds sensing

Two urea-containing MOFs, namely TMU-35 and TMU-36, were synthesized and characterized using X-ray crystallography and different spectroscopic techniques. Since these compounds contain urea functional group, they can interact favorably through hydrogen bonding with carbonyl compounds and thus they are potential candidates for carbonyl compounds sensing. Our study reveals that, when the pillaring linker containing benzene core (TMU-35) is replaced by pillaring linker containing naphthalene core (TMU-36), fluorescence sensing ability towards carbonyl compounds is dramatically quenched. It can be concluded that in comparison with TMU-35, TMU-36 provides a more electron-rich and hydrophobic pore walls which can interact favorably with organic analytes. This result is interesting as it represents the first example of the application of functionalized MOFs for carbonyl compounds sensing. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.