Rapid Detection of the Biomarkers for Carcinoid Tumors by a Water Stable Luminescent Lanthanide Metal-Organic Framework Sensor

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a unique class of crystalline solids comprised of metal cations (or metal clusters) and organic ligands that have shown promise for a wide variety of applications. Over the past 15 years, research and development of these materials have become one of the most intensely and extensively pursued areas. A very interesting and well-investigated topic is their optical emission properties and related applications. Several reviews have provided a comprehensive overview covering many aspects of the subject up to 2011. This review intends to provide an update of work published since then and focuses on the photoluminescence (PL) properties of MOFs and their possible utility in chemical and biological sensing and detection. The spectrum of this review includes the origin of luminescence in MOFs, the advantages of luminescent MOF (LMOF) based sensors, general strategies in designing sensory materials, and examples of various applications in sensing and detection.

Metal-organic framework-5 (MOF-5) of composition Zn4O(BDC)3 (BDC = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate) with a cubic three-dimensional extended porous structure adsorbed hydrogen up to 4.5 weight percent (17.2 hydrogen molecules per formula unit) at 78 kelvin and 1.0 weight percent at room temperature and pressure of 20 bar. Inelastic neutron scattering spectroscopy of the rotational transitions of the adsorbed hydrogen molecules indicates the presence of two well-defined binding sites (termed I and II), which we associate with hydrogen binding to zinc and the BDC linker, respectively. Preliminary studies on topologically similar isoreticular metal-organic framework-6 and -8 (IRMOF-6 and -8) having cyclobutylbenzene and naphthalene linkers, respectively, gave approximately double and quadruple (2.0 weight percent) the uptake found for MOF-5 at room temperature and 10 bar.