Highly Water-Stable Novel Lanthanide Wheel Cluster Organic Frameworks Featuring Coexistence of Hydrophilic Cagelike Chambers and Hydrophobic Nanosized Channels.

In attempts to investigate the potential luminescent sensing materials for sensitive detection of environmental pollutants, a new family of lanthanide wheel cluster organic frameworks (Ln-WCOFs) UJN-Ln4 has been constructed by employing one of the cycloalkane dicarboxylic acid derivatives. Adopting different conformations, the ligand links Ln4 second building units (SBUs) and Ln24 tertiary building units (TBUs) to form a unique wheel cluster layer-pillared 3D framework featuring the coexistence of hydrophobic nanosized channels and trigonal antiprism arrays with hydrophilic cagelike chambers. Apart from charming structures, isostructural UJN-Ln4 displays interesting porous, water-stable features. Systematic luminescence studies demonstrate that solvent water molecules can enhance the emission intensity of solid-state UJN-Eu4. Acting as a recyclable luminescent probe, water-stable luminescent UJN-Eu4 exhibits superior "turn-off" detection for Fe3+ and Cu2+ ions in aqueous solutions. Due to the nanosized hydrophobic channels, UJN-Eu4 also shows highly sensitive sensing of sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate (SDBS) via luminescence "turn-on" respondence, representing the first example of quantitatively detecting SDBS in aqueous solutions by employing luminescent lanthanide frameworks as fluorescent sensors. The results also open up the exploration of novel luminescent Ln-WCOFs exhibiting unique applications in sensitive detecting of harmful pollutants in aquatic environments.