The first transition-metal metal–organic framework showing cation exchange for highly selectively sensing of aqueous Cu(II) ions

The anionic metal–organic framework (MOF), [NH4]2[ZnL]·6H2O(1, L = 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylate), featuring the PtS-type net allows for [NH4]+-to-(metal ions) cation exchange, and thus performs the potential of luminescent sensing of aqueous metal ions. To our best knowledge, polymer presents the first transition-metal MOF suitable for luminescent sensing and the first MOF solid material for aqueous luminescent sensing.