Selectively sensing and adsorption properties of nickel(II) and cadmium(II) architectures with rigid 1H-imidazol-4-yl containing ligands and 1,3,5-tri(4-carboxyphenyl)benzene

•Ni(II) and Cd(II) MOFs with mixed organic ligands were fabricated.•The frameworks exhibit diverse 1D, 2D and 3D structures.•Acetone sensing and selectively adsorption of dye molecules of the frameworks were investigated.

Two rigid 1H-imidazol-4-yl containing ligands of 1, 3-di(1H-imidazol-4-yl)benzene (L1) and 1, 4-di(1H-imidazol-4-yl)benzene (L2) were used to react with Ni(II) and Cd(II) salts together with 1,3,5-tri(4-carboxyphenyl)benzene (H3BTB) under hydro- and solvo-thermal conditions, and four new complexes [Ni3(L1)4(BTB)2(C2H5OH)2(H2O)6]·3H2O (1), [Cd3(L1)2(BTB)2(H2O)]·DMF·H2O (2), [Ni3(L2)3(BTB)2(H2O)6]·4H2O (3) and [Cd3(L2)3(BTB)2]·H3BTB·H2O (4) (DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide) were achieved and structurally characterized. The complexes show structural diversity. 1 is an infinite one-dimensional (1D) chain, 3 and 4 are two-dimensional (2D) networks, which are further linked together by hydrogen bonds to give eventual three-dimensional (3D) architectures, while 2 is a 3D framework. Fluorescent sensing and selectively adsorption properties of the complexes were investigated.

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