Microwave synthesis of zinc-trimesic acid metal–organic framework for visual fluorescence detection of tetracyclines

The excessive use of antibiotics in agriculture leads to their contamination in food and water; it is highly demanded to develop new functional materials for their fast and on-site detection. In this paper, we synthesized a zinc(II)-trimesic acid metal–organic framework (Zn-BTC) by microwave and explored its practical application for the detection of chlortetracycline (CTC) based on conformational variation mechanism. A limit of detection (LOD) of 24 nM was estimated for CTC according to the 3σ principle. Due to their similar unique structural properties, other tetracyclines also produce fluorescence enhancement upon adsorption with Zn-BTC, which can be used to distinguish tetracyclines from other antibiotics. Based on the properties, a test paper was fabricated by loading Zn-BTC on glass fiber filter paper. The paper could be used for non-contact visual detection of CTC, suggesting great application potential in water quality monitoring.