A microporous Cd-MOF based on a hexavalent silicon-centred connector and luminescence sensing of small molecules.

Solvothermal reaction of Cd2+ cations with a silicon-centered carboxylic acid (H6L) afforded a novel metal–organic framework, namely, [Cd3L(H2O)5]·DMA·H2O (1). It is built from three {CdO6} clusters and organosilicone linkers to form a 3D porous framework. The steric organosilicone ligand is among the never documented examples. Interestingly, 1 exhibited spontaneous formations of microtubular crystals, the phenomenon of which is rarely reported among the metal–organic coordination assemblies. In addition, the luminescence properties of 1 dispersed in different organic solvents have been investigated, displaying turn-on and turn-off luminescence responses for n-butanol and acetone, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]