A color-tunable fluorescent pillararene coordination polymer for efficient pollutant detection

A dicarboxylatopillar[5]arene (DCP5)-based coordination polymer, namely DCP5-Eu x Tb y , with color-tunable emission and capable of nitroaromatic pollutant detection, has been designed and fabricated via a typical metal-ligand coordination approach. Due to its rigid skeleton and electron-rich cavity, DCP5 plays an important role in this multi-color framework, not only as a linker but also as a blue-color fluorescence donor. Intriguingly, the fluorescent color of DCP5-Eu x Tb y can be tuned from green to red simply by mediating the molar ratio of Eu 3+ : Tb 3+ in the functional system. More importantly, a white-color emitting system, that is, DCP5-Eu 1 Tb 3 , is discovered when the ratio of Eu 3+ : Tb 3+ is 1 : 3, and the white-light emissive DCP5-Eu 1 Tb 3 exhibits good detection performance toward nitroaromatic pollutants in a wide application field. We envision that this work will open a new avenue for the exploration of synthetic macrocycle-based new materials in the construction of new fluorescent sensors and detectors for environmental sustainability and bio-related fields. A color-tunable pillarene coordination polymer (DCP5-Eu 1 Tb 3 ) with attractive white-light emission properties and capable of nitroaromatic pollutant detection in biological platforms was constructed.