Targeted Construction of Light-Harvesting Metal-Organic Frameworks Featuring Efficient Host-Guest Energy Transfer

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as promising light-harvesting platforms for energy-transfer materials. However, the targeted construction of MOFs with desirable photophysical properties and pore structures is still a challenge. Herein, 1,1,2,2-tetrakis(4-(pyridin-4-yl)phenyl)ethene (tppe) is selected as the ligand for the construction of light-harvesting MOFs due to its highly emissive and rigid backbone, which could benefit the light-harvesting performance of the MOFs. Three MOFs (MOFs 1-3) were obtained on the basis of different metal centers (Zn²⁺ and Cd²⁺) and carboxylate building blocks. The complete structure characterization of the MOFs helps the illustration of the principles for structure tuning of this system. All three MOFs exhibit strong tppe-originated photoluminescence emission, with quantum yields as high as 47.6%. The fluorescence quantum yield and time-resolved fluorescence studies reveal that a remarkable energy-transfer efficiency (up to 96%) was achieved in this system. These results clearly indicate tppe-MOFs could be promising light-harvesting materials.