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A dicarboxylatopillar[5]arene (DCP5)-based coordination polymer, namely DCP5-EuxTby, 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-EuxTby can be tuned from green to red simply by mediating the molar ratio of Eu3+ : Tb3+ in the functional system. More importantly, a white-color emitting system, that is, DCP5-Eu1Tb3, is discovered when the ratio of Eu3+ : Tb3+ is 1 : 3, and the white-light emissive DCP5-Eu1Tb3 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a novel supramolecular π-gel has been constructed using a naphthalimide functionalized pillar[5]arene-based gelator (MP5). The gelator MP5 simultaneously contains a naphthalimide moiety as the π…π interaction site as well as a fluorophore. Interestingly, the MP5-based supramolecular π-gel (MP5-G) exhibits strong aggregation-induced emission (AIE). MP5-G exhibited good thermal-responsiveness, acid and base-responsiveness and cation and amino acid-responsiveness. Meanwhile, this supramolecular π-gel also shows selective fluorescence sensing for Fe3+via cation–π interactions with high selectivity and sensitivity, and the detection limit of MP5-G for Fe3+ is 6.06 × 10−8 M. Even more meaningfully, MP5-G could remove Fe3+ from water solution with excellent recyclability and ingestion capacity, and the Fe3+ removal rate can reach up to 99.8%. Furthermore, the Fe3+ coordinated supramolecular gel, MP5-FeG, shows selective fluorescence “turn-on” sensing for l-Cys. The detection limit of MP5-FeG for l-Cys is 1.0 × 10−8 M. Simultaneously, thin films based on these supramolecular gels were prepared, which were confirmed to be convenient test kits for detecting Fe3+ and l-Cys. In addition, these supramolecular π-gels could be used as sensitive ion sensors, sensitive logic gates and fluorescent display materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]