Discerning Detection of Mutagenic Biopollutant TNP from Water and Soil Samples with Transition Metal-Containing Luminescence Metal–Organic Frameworks

Two
luminescent MOFs, Mn@MOF and Cd@MOF, have been reported herein,
which are capable of selectively detecting 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP),
one of the potent organic water pollutants in the class of mutagenic
explosive nitroaromatic compounds (epNACs). It is perceived that the
d10-based Cd­(II)-constituting MOF shows a
better response in the realm of TNP-like nitroaromatic sensing in
comparison to the d5-based Mn@MOF which may
possess lower electron density over the conjugated building blocks.
The sensing competences of these chemosensors have been explored by
means of various spectroscopic experimentations, and it is observed
that for both d5 and d10-containing MOFs, the
initial fluorescence intensity is significantly quenched in response
to an aqueous solution of TNP. However, Cd@MOF is more selective and
sensitive toward TNP over several other epNACs than Mn@MOF. The high
chemical stability of the MOF samples, as well as its amusing sensing
efficiency of Cd@MOF, further instigated to investigate the sensing
ability in various environmental specimens like soil and water culled
from several zones of West Bengal, India.