Specific recognition of toxic allyl alcohol by pore-functionalized metal-organic frameworks

Allyl alcohol, a toxic compound with mutagenic nature, is known to be very harmful for humans. Due to its demand as industrial chemical with hazardous characteristics, its recognition and capture is of high topical interest. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as front-runners for the recognition of various environmentally-toxic molecules or biologically-active reactive species, owing to their design flexibility and ability to anchor guest-specific sites. In the present investigation, the targeted selective detection of allyl alcohol in two rationally constructed MOFs is reported. This systematic study emphasizes that the interaction of allyl alcohol with coordinated functional sites has a pronounced effect on its screening from other small alcohols via a luminescence pathway. The experimental findings were further supported the theoretical calculations. Two rationally designed MOFs were reported for the luminescent detection of toxic allyl alcohol selectively over other small alcohols.