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The rapid and accurate sensing of p‐xylene, an essential raw material with a multi‐billion‐dollar market, in xylene mixture is of great significance in industry; however, the highly similar molecular structures, energy levels, and spectral characteristics of xylene isomers make the selective recognition extremely challenging. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) exhibiting tailorable pores and potential binding sites provide prospects for xylene sensing but a comprehensive understanding of the pore effect is still elusive, primarily due to the intricacies involved in the sensing process. Herein, we reported a robust bilanthanide MOF NKU‐999‐EuTb with precisely engineered pores to accommodate p‐xylene, of which the binding sites were confirmed by single crystal X‐ray diffraction and dynamic magnetic susceptibilities. NKU‐999‐EuTb exhibits high‐performance in selective recognition for p‐xylene towards its isomers. Through a systematical study, it was revealed that absorbing p‐xylene into the pores governs the sensing performance. This work provides insights for developing advanced sensing materials for complex isomers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are an emerging class of porous crystalline polymers with well‐defined structures and tunable functionalities, which have fascinating applications in a wide range of fields. However, the synthetic procedures of COFs are mainly confined to the solvothermal synthesis method which usually requires harsh experimental conditions. In this work, an effective solvent‐free synthesis method to construct a series of two‐dimensional (2D) COFs including imine‐linked, azine‐linked, β‐ketoenamine‐linked, which avoids the complicated solvent screening process and most of the disadvantages of solvothermal methods is developed. The crystallinity and porosity of these COFs are comparable to those prepared by traditional solvothermal routes. What's more, the advantages of the solvent‐free method enable the production of gram‐scale of those 2D COFs through a one‐pot reaction, demonstrating high industrial application potentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid and accurate sensing of p-xylene, an essential raw material with a multi-billion-dollar market, in xylene mixture is of great significance in industry; however, the highly similar molecular structures, energy levels, and spectral characteristics of xylene isomers make the selective recognition extremely challenging. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) exhibiting tailorable pores and potential binding sites provide prospects for xylene sensing but a comprehensive understanding of the pore effect is still elusive, primarily due to the intricacies involved in the sensing process. Herein, we reported a robust bilanthanide MOF NKU-999-EuTb with precisely engineered pores to accommodate p-xylene, of which the binding sites were confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction and dynamic magnetic susceptibilities. NKU-999-EuTb exhibits high-performance in selective recognition for p-xylene towards its isomers. Through a systematical study, it was revealed that absorbing p-xylene into the pores governs the sensing performance. This work provides insights for developing advanced sensing materials for complex isomers., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Fabricating heterojunction photocatalysts for H 2 production is promising for the development of clean energy. For boosting the photocatalytic activity, modulating the heterojunction interface can facilitate the electron-hole separation and solar energy utilization, but it is highly challenging in synthesis. In this work, by facilely exfoliating the bulk C 3 N 5 , ultrathin C 3 N 5 nanosheets (N-CN) with large surface area, improved light absorption, and efficient charge transport were synthesized and further applied to the construction of NH 2 -UiO-66/N-CN heterojunctions. The optimized NH 2 -UiO-66/N-CN-2 exhibits high hydrogen evolution rate and cycling stability with Pt as the cocatalyst. Combined with the experimental results, the density functional theory calculation reveals that the high photocatalytic performance is attributed to the promoted photogenerated carrier transfer by the formation of well-contacted and stable Z-scheme heterojunction interface. This contribution renders an insight into the modulation of the heterojunction interface for enhancing the activity of MOF-based photocatalysts.

Entacapone (ENT) is a powerful catechol-O-methyl transferase inhibitor that is used for the diagnosis and treatment of Parkinson's syndrome, but the amount used must be well controlled to avoid overtreatment and side effect. Fast and selective detection of ENT needs well-matched energy levels and well-designed sensor-ENT interaction which is highly challenging. In this work, a water stable europium-based metal-organic framework (Eu-TDA) was synthesized to detect ENT by luminescence with excellent reusability and selectivity in the presence of main coexisting and interference species of plasma with a limit of detection of 5.01 μM. The experimental results showed that the luminescence of Eu-TDA can be effectively quenched by ENT via well-designed photoinduced electron transfer mechanism and internal filtration effect mechanism in the system., (© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)