Ultrafast Luminescence Detection with Selective Adsorption of Carbon Disulfide in a Gold(I) Metal-Organic Framework

Although a widely used and important industrial chemical, carbon disulfide (CS₂) poses a number of hazards due to its volatility and toxicity. As such, the development of multifunctional materials for the selective capture and easy recognition of CS₂ is one of the crucial issues. Herein, we demonstrate completely selective CS₂ adsorption among trials involving H₂O, alcohols, volatile organic compounds (including thiol derivatives), N₂, H₂, O₂, CH₄, CO, NO, and CO₂. We also showcase its fine detection using remarkable luminescent response in a gold(I)-based metal-organic framework (MOF) of {Zn^II(pz)[Au^I(CN)₂]₂} (pz=pyrazine; 1) with a two-fold interpenetration network. Ex situ single crystal X-ray diffraction for 1 and CS₂-accommodated 1 suggested that the Au ⋅⋅⋅ Au atoms are not only luminescent centers but also act as interaction sites for CS₂ modulating the Au ⋅⋅⋅ Au contacts. These experiments revealed the specificity of CS₂ and how changes in the CS₂-induced structure. Based on the obtained structural transformation, 1 exhibited a sensitive detecting ability for CS₂ with an ultrafast response time of less than 10 s. Moreover, ex situ time-resolved photoluminescence analyses developed in this work implied that CS₂ varied the energetic relaxation at the excited states related to the luminescent efficiency of the resultant MOF system.