A Zn4O clusters based flexible doubly interpenetrated metal–organic framework [(Zn4O)2(DCPB)6DMF]·2DMF·8H2O (JLU-Liu33, H2DCPB = 1,3-di(4-carboxyphenyl)benzene, DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide) with pcu topology has been solvothermally synthesized. Because of its flexible structure, JLU-Liu33 exhibits a breathing behavior upon N2 and CO2 adsorption at low temperature, and C2H6 and C3H8 adsorption at 273 and 298 K. Furthermore, by adopting the direct synthesis method, two isomorphic compounds—JLU-Liu33L and JLU-Liu33H—have been obtained by partial substituting Zn with different amounts of Co into the JLU-Liu33 framework. The gas adsorption study of Co-doped materials reveals that the gate opening effect of JLU-Liu33 can be modulated by introducing different contents of Co2+ into Zn4O clusters. Meanwhile, with the increasing amount of Co2+, the adsorption amount and isosteric enthalpy values for CO2 have been improved. It is worth mentioning that JLU-Liu33H exhibits commendable selectivity for CO2 over CH4 which may be a good candidate for industrial gas purification and air separation applications.

Two highly porous MOFs, [Co2(μ2-OH)(bpdc)(Htpim)2][SiF6]·3.5DMA·2.5CH3OH (JLU-Liu37, H2bpdc = biphenyl-4,4′-dicarboxylate, Htpim = 2,4,5-tri(4-pyridyl)imidazole) and [Ni2(μ2-OH)(bpdc)(Htpim)2][SiF6]·7.5DMA·6CH3OH (JLU-Liu38), have been solvothermally synthesized by using the mixed ligand strategy. Both of the compounds possess finite binuclear [M2(μ2-OH)(COO)2] (M = Co, Ni) secondary building units (SBUs) which formed with a polar functional group, μ2-OH. JLU-Liu37 and JLU-Liu38 exhibit notable adsorption capacities for CO2 and light hydrocarbons (CH4, C2H6, and C3H8). Moreover, both of the materials exhibit arrestive natural gas selective separation ability, especially for C3H8/CH4 (206 for an equimolar mixture under 1 bar and 298 K, for JLU-Liu37). Both of the MOFs may be effectively applied in the separation of industrial light hydrocarbons.

By reacting with indium nitrate and tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)-porphyrin (H4TCPP), a mesoporous indium–porphyrin framework, named JLU-Liu7, which features a rare (4,4)-connected frl net based on 1D inorganic indium rod SBUs, has been constructed. It exhibits high performance for gas adsorption and light hydrocarbon separation.

A novel metal–organic framework, [(CH3)2NH2]2[Cu3O(SO4)3Cu2L2(DMF)(H2O)]·9DMF (JLU-Liu39) H2L = pyridine-3,5-bis(phenyl-4-carboxylic acid), has been successfully synthesized under solvothermal conditions. Structure analysis indicates that the framework of JLU-Liu39 is constructed by ternary building units which include a rare hexa-nuclear [Cu6O2(SO4)6] cluster, a classical [Cu2(CO2)4] paddlewheel, and a 3-connected hetero-N, O donor ligand. The whole 3D framework possesses a (3,4,4)-connected fjh topology and a large window size of 25.3 Å with high solvent-accessible volume accounting for approximately 75.8% of the cell volume. On the basis of the anionic framework and large pore volume, JLU-Liu39 can efficiently adsorb cationic dyes such as MLB, MV, RhB and neutral dye NR but exclude anionic dyes such as MO and Orange II. Moreover, JLU-Liu39 also exhibits size-exclusion performance for dyes of different sizes, and the dye adsorption amounts decrease with the increase of dye size. With respect to the proportional mixture dyes with different charges for MO & MLB and Orange II & MLB, JLU-Liu39 can be able to selectively adsorb the cationic dye MLB efficiently. Based on the aforementioned considerations, JLU-Liu39 is a good anionic-skeleton MOF material for the adsorption and separation of organic dyes.

•A series of lanthanide coordination polymers have been successfully under hydrothermal/solvothermal conditions.•The H3POIDC ligand deriving from H3PIDC ligand in situ reaction, as firstly reported in Ln-CPs.•Compounds 1–6 show strong luminescence emission in solid state, especially compound 1 exhibits obvious luminescence quenching for Hg2+ ion.A series of novel lanthanide coordination polymers (Ln-CPs) have been constructed by 2-(pyridin-2-yl-N-oxide)-1H-imidazole-4,5-dicarboxylate (H3POIDC) ligand, which derived from the partial oxidation of 2-(pyridin-2-yl)-1H-imidazole-4,5-dicarboxylate (H3PIDC) in situ reaction. Compounds 1–3 with the infinite left- and right-hand helices show 3D supramolecular structure constructing from 1D chains connecting each other through strong hydrogen-bond interactions. Compounds 4–7 show 2D layered structure with sql topology which are built from 4-connected nodes. Moreover, compounds 1–6 show strong luminescence emission in solid state, especially compound 1 exhibits obvious luminescence quenching for Hg2+ ion.Based on in situ reaction of 2-(pyridin-2-yl)-1H-imidazole-4,5-dicarboxylate, a series of novel lanthanide coordination polymers have been successfully synthesized under hydrothermal/solvothermal conditions and exhibit two different structures. Moreover, compounds 1–6 show strong luminescence emission in solid state, especially compound 1 exhibits obvious luminescence quenching for Hg2+ ion.

Two novel 2D coordination polymers, [Co(BPDC)DMSO]·DMSO(1)(BPDC=2,2′-bipyridyl-4,4′-dicarboxylic acid) and [Zn(BPDC)DMF]·DMF(2), were synthesized from 2,2′-bipyridyl-4,4′-dicarboxylic acid ligand (H2BPDC) under solvothermal conditions. Single crystal X-ray diffraction analyses reveal that compound 1 crystallizes in orthorhombic system and Pca21 space group with a=1.29628(13) nm, b=1.13721(13) nm, c=1.66457(19) nm, α=90°, β=90°, γ=90°, V=2.4538(5) nm3. Compound 2 crystallizes in monoclinic system and P21/c space group with a=0.9429(6) nm, b=1.4757(10) nm, c=1.5980(9) nm, α=90°, β=114°, γ=90°, V=2.030(2) nm3. Compounds 1 and 2 exhibit two different 3-connected hcb and fes topologies, respectively. The structures of the two compounds both contain interesting characters of double-helical chains (left- and right-handed helical chains). Additionally, the magnetic and luminescent properties of the two compounds were studied.

Twelve novel three-dimensional (3D) lanthanide metal–organic frameworks with formula {[LnK(C4N2O4S)2(H2O)2](H2O)0.5} (Ln = La (1), Ce (2), Pr (3), Nd (4), Sm (5), Eu (6), Gd (7), Tb (8)), {[Ln2K2(C4N2O4S)2(C4O4H2)2(H2O)4](H2O)} (Ln = La (9), Ce (10)), and {[Ln2(C4N2O4S)3(H2O)](H2O)} (Ln = La (11), Ce (12)), are solvothermally synthesized by reacting the 1,2,5-thiadiazole-3,4-dicarboxylate (H2tdc) ligand with the corresponding lanthanide nitrate. These compounds exhibit three different types of structures which changed from nonporous to open-framework MOFs by adjusting the reaction conditions. Compounds 1–8 (type I) with a moc topology are constructed of 1D zigzag chains and pillared water molecules. Fumaric acid (Fac) as the coligand is introduced in the reaction to replace the pillared water and link similar zigzag chains to assemble compounds 9 and 10 (type II) with a dia topology. Compounds 11 and 12 (type III) with the chiral space group exhibit 1D right/left helical chains along the b axis, and the helical chains alternatively link together to form 3D frameworks with a new (3,4,5)-connected topology. The luminescence study shows that compounds 5, 6, 8 display intense orange, red and green luminescence and exhibit typical Sm3+, Eu3+ and Tb3+ ion emission, respectively. Furthermore, compounds 1, 7, 9 and 11 also exhibit intense green and blue luminescence arising from the H2tdc ligand.

A series of functional mesoporous silica nanoparticles(MSNs) was synthesized by a one-step simple synthesis approach involving co-condensation of tetraethoxysilane(TEOS) and salicylaldimine ligand(Sal-Si) in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium chloride(CTAC) under basic conditions. The target MSNs with different sizes (50, 100 and 200 nm, respectively) were obtained. Furthermore, the Ca2+ cations were also introduced into MSNs. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized by means of infrared(IR) spectra, thermogravimetric analysis(TGA), inductively coupled plasma(ICP), CHN elemental analysis, nitrogen adsorption-desorption, scanning electron microscope( SEM) and transmission electron microscope(TEM). Ibuprofen(IBU) which contains carboxyl groups was selected as a model drug. The results of drug loading and release reveal that the loading capacities and release behaviors of the model drug are highly dependent on the Ca2+ cations in MSNs. The release of IBU from the MSNs functionalized by Ca2+ cations is found to be effectively controlled when compared to the release from the MSNs without the functionalization of Ca2+ cations, which is due to the ionic interaction between carboxyl groups in IBU and Ca2+ cations in MSNs.

A novel 3D ytterbium supramolecular compound, [Yb(HBDDC)(H2O)4]·2H2O(1), was synthesized via 5,5′-(buta-diyne-1,4-diyl)diisophthalic acid ligand(H4BDDC) under solvothermal conditions. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that compound 1 crystallizes in triclinic system, \(P\bar 1\) space group with a=0.71372(14) nm, b=1.0566(2) nm, c=1.7969(4) nm, α=101.01(3)°, β=98.15(3)°, γ=99.17(3)° and V=1.2922(4) nm3. Compound 1 exhibits a special infinite 1D chain, which stacks parallel each other in an ABAB sequence, leading to the formation of a 3D supramolecular structure owing to the strong π-π interactions between adjacent phenyl ring groups. Moreover, compound 1 manifests excellent luminescent property.

Two novel isomorphic coordination polymers [Zn(HPyImDC)H2O](1) and [Co(HPyImDC)H2O](2) were synthesized from 2-(pyridine-3-yl)-1H-4,5-imidazoledicarboxylic acid(H3PyImDC) under hydrothermal conditions. Both the compounds crystallized in P212121 chiral space group, possessing left-hand helical chains and right-hand helical chains. Two types of helical chains connected with each other to form an interesting 2D bilayer structure which extended to a 3D supermolecular structure via the hydrogen-bonding interactions. Topology analysis shows that H3PyImDC ligand and metal center can be regarded as 3-connected T-shaped nodes, thus leading to a (3,3)-connected network with vertex symbol of (82·10).

Four novel zinc(II) metal-organic frameworks, {[Zn7(trz)6(1,3-bdc)4(H2O)2]·2H2O}n (1), {[Zn7(trz)6(hip)4(H2O)2]·8H2O}n (2), [Zn4(trz)4(Hnip)2(nip)]n (3), and [Zn5(trz)2(Hbtc)4(H2O)4]n (4) (Htrz = 1,2,4-triazole, 1,3-H2bdc = 1,3-benzenedicarboxylic acid, H2hip = 5-hydroxyisophthalic acid, H2nip = 5-nitroisophthalic acid, and H3btc = 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid), have been hydrothermally synthesized by reaction of Zn salt and Htrz with four different aromatic acids, respectively. Their structures were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses and further characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, elemental analyses, IR spectra, and TG analyses. The structures of compounds 1 and 2 are isostructural and feature the 3D structure containing multidimensional intersecting ring channels formed by the interconnection of 2D layers {[Zn7(trz)6]8+}n with 1,3-bdc (1) or hip (2). Compound 3 consists of {[Zn4(trz)4]4+}n layers with (4, 82) topology arranged in the −ABAB− stacking sequence, which are connected by nip pillars to generate a novel 3D open framework. Compound 4 is also in a 3D structure containing 2D layer motifs, which are further linked by btc ligands to complete the structure. There are two different building units [Zn2(trz)2]2+ and [ZnO6] within the 2D layers of 4. All of the compounds 1−4 exhibit the 3D pillared-layer structures. In the 2D layer motifs of these four compounds, trz ligands connect Zn ions in different coordination modes, which reflect the tendency of the trz ligand to bridge multiple metal sites, and the aromatic carboxylate ligands in compounds 1−4 serve as the pillar between the 2D layers, creating the 3D open frameworks. Moreover, these four compounds exhibit emission properties at room temperature in the solid state.

A new three-dimensional (3D) zincophosphite |Co(en)3| [Zn4(HPO3)5(H2PO3)] (1) has been solvothermally synthesized by using a racemic mixture of a chiral cobaltammine complex Co(en)3Cl3 as the structure-directing agent. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that compound 1 crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P21/c (no. 14) with a=18.6180 (4) Å, b=8.7601(18) Å, c=17.4840(4) Å, β=93.42(3)°, V=2846.4(10) Å3, Z=4 with R1=0.0530. Its structure is built up from strict alternation of ZnO4 tetrahedra and HPO3 pseudo-tetrahedra, giving rise to a 3D inorganic framework with 4-, 6-, 8-, 10- and 12 MRs, and the metal complex molecules, both the Δ and Λ enantiomers, sit in 10-MRs channels. In addition, it is worth noting that left- and right-handed helical chains exist in the framework, which is induced by chiral metal complex Co(en)3Cl3 template molecules. Further characterization of compound 1 has been performed, including X-ray powder diffraction, ICP, CHN, IR and TG analyses.A new three-dimensional zincophosphite containing left-handed and right-handed helical chains has been solvothermally synthesized using Co(en)3Cl3 as the structure-directing agent.

A novel metal–organic framework, [(CH3)2NH2]2[Cu3O(SO4)3Cu2L2(DMF)(H2O)]·9DMF (JLU-Liu39) H2L = pyridine-3,5-bis(phenyl-4-carboxylic acid), has been successfully synthesized under solvothermal conditions. Structure analysis indicates that the framework of JLU-Liu39 is constructed by ternary building units which include a rare hexa-nuclear [Cu6O2(SO4)6] cluster, a classical [Cu2(CO2)4] paddlewheel, and a 3-connected hetero-N, O donor ligand. The whole 3D framework possesses a (3,4,4)-connected fjh topology and a large window size of 25.3 Å with high solvent-accessible volume accounting for approximately 75.8% of the cell volume. On the basis of the anionic framework and large pore volume, JLU-Liu39 can efficiently adsorb cationic dyes such as MLB, MV, RhB and neutral dye NR but exclude anionic dyes such as MO and Orange II. Moreover, JLU-Liu39 also exhibits size-exclusion performance for dyes of different sizes, and the dye adsorption amounts decrease with the increase of dye size. With respect to the proportional mixture dyes with different charges for MO & MLB and Orange II & MLB, JLU-Liu39 can be able to selectively adsorb the cationic dye MLB efficiently. Based on the aforementioned considerations, JLU-Liu39 is a good anionic-skeleton MOF material for the adsorption and separation of organic dyes.

By reacting with indium nitrate and tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)-porphyrin (H4TCPP), a mesoporous indium–porphyrin framework, named JLU-Liu7, which features a rare (4,4)-connected frl net based on 1D inorganic indium rod SBUs, has been constructed. It exhibits high performance for gas adsorption and light hydrocarbon separation.