A heterometallic sodium(i)-europium(iii)-organic layer exhibiting dual-responsive luminescent sensing for nitrofuran antibiotics, CrO and MnO anions.

The detection of nitrofuran antibiotics and toxic inorganic anions is currently necessary and challenging because their abuse and/or residuals have caused severe environmental pollution and illness. A heterometallic two-dimensional (2D) layered complex, {[EuNa(Hpddb)(pddb)(CHCOO)]·2.5(DMA)} (1), was solvothermally synthesized and structurally and photophysically characterized. Pairs of acetate aggregated {EuNa(CHCOO)} chains are periodically interconnected by V-shaped 4,4'-(pyridine-2,6-diyl)dibenzolate (pddb) linkers. More interestingly, the layered complex exhibits a bright red emission and can efficiently discriminate nitrofuran antibiotics by luminescent quenching with a strong quenching constant (K) and low detection limit (LOD) of 4.93 × 10 M and 0.64 μM for nitrofurazone, 4.42 × 10 M and 0.68 μM for nitrofurantoin as well as 2.13 × 10 M and 1.06 μM for furazolidone. Additionally, 1 can also probe trace amounts of toxic CrO and MnO anions with K = 6.45 × 10 M and LOD = 5.35 μM for CrO and K = 2.84 × 10 M and LOD = 5.99 μM for MnO anions. These interesting results indicate that heteromatallic coordination polymers can serve as favorable dual- or even multiple-responsive luminescence sensors to selectively recognize different kinds of contaminants.