Facile fabrication and luminescence properties of a new Zn coordination polymer-based fluorescent sensor toward antibiotics

Due to the excellent fluorescence properties of organic fluorescent ligand 4,7-bi(1 H -imidazol-1-yl)benzo-[2,1,3]thiadiazole (BIBT), luminescent coordination polymers (CPs) or metalorganic frameworks constructed from BIBT have received our attention. In this work, by the self-assembly of BIBT and Zn( ii ) ions, the formation of a two-dimensional (2D) CP with a formula [Zn 2 (BIBT)(AIPA) 2 ] n ( JXUST-17 , H 2 AIPA = 5-aminoisophthalic acid) has been achieved. X-ray single-crystal diffraction analysis reveals that the adjacent Zn II ions are connected by amino and carboxylate groups from AIPA 2 ligands to form a 2D layer structure and the neighboring layers are further linked by BIBT ligands to construct a 2D double-layer structure. Luminescence investigation suggests that JXUST-17 not only possesses excellent detection capability but also exhibits excellent selectivity toward nitrofurantoin (NFT) and 2.6-dichloro-4-nitroaniline (DCN). Furthermore, mixed matrix membranes are developed by the dispersion of JXUST-17 with polymethyl methacrylate in DMA solution to realize a rapid and visualizable luminescence response towards NFT. A new Zn II -based coordination polymer could selectively and sensitively recognize NFT and DCN via turn-off effect. Interestingly, a mixed matrix film for visualizable sensing has been successfully developed.