Temperature- and solvent-dependent structures of three zinc(II) metal-organic frameworks for nitroaromatic explosives detection

Highlights: • Complexes 1–3 exhibit 2D/3D structures derived from V-shaped bib and H₂oba with different conformations. • Through the change of reaction conditions, the assembly of MOFs with novel structures and interesting properties has been successfully realized. • Complexes 2 and 3 exhibit selectively sensitive to electron-deficient nitroaromatic explosives with high anti-interference abilities. -- Abstract: Three zinc(II) metal-organic frameworks have been solvothermally synthesized with V-shaped 1,3-bis(1-imidazolyl)benzene (bib) and 4,4'-oxydibenzoic acid (4,4'-H₂oba), namely {[Zn(bib)(oba)]⋅solvents}_n (1), {[Zn(bib)(oba)]·2H₂O}_n (2) and {[Zn₂(bib)₂(oba)₂]⋅2EtOH⋅H₂O}_n (3). All of them are characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, infrared spectra and powder X-ray diffraction. Complex 1 presents a two-fold interpenetrating three-dimensional structure with 4-connected (6⁵.8) topology. While, complexes 2 and 3 exhibit double layer cavity and double chains based two-dimensional structure, respectively. Luminescent studies indicate that 2 and 3 display selectively sensitive to electron-deficient nitroaromatic explosives with excellent anti-interference abilities.