Stable Lanthanide–Organic Framework as a Luminescent Probe To Detect Both Histidine and Aspartic Acid in Water

A three-dimensional metal–organic framework (MOF) {[Eu(L)(H2O)2]·DMF}n (1) (H3L = 2′-nitro-3,4′,5-biphenyl tricarboxylic acid) was obtained by hydrothermal methods and was characterized in detail. Compound 1 contains [Eu2] binuclear units, and [Eu2] units are further linked by H3L, forming a three-dimensional structure. Stability tests suggest that compound 1 exhibits high solvent, pH, and thermal stability. Besides, we also explored the influence of pH values in the luminescence emission of 1 which shows that pH has a negligible effect on the luminescence intensity with the range of pH = 3–11. Importantly, luminescent investigations reveal that 1 can selectively detect aspartic acid or histidine among 14 amino acids with good regenerability in water. Meanwhile, the concentration of aspartic acid can be quantitatively determined. We also discuss the mechanism of luminescence quenching and enhancement in detail. Importantly, this Eu-MOF provides a MOF-based luminescence sensor to detect two amino acids for the first time.