Modular construction and photocatalytic properties of two Co(II) metal-organic frameworks

The self-assembly of 5-fluorine-3-(3,5-dicarboxylphenxoy)benzoic acid(H3L) with cobalt(II) salts in absence as well as presence of a nitrogen donor ancillary ligand 1,1′-(1,4-butanediyl)bis(imidazole) (bib)yields two new metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) with formula[Co2(μ3OH) (L)(H2O)3·2·75H2O]n (1) and [Co2(μ3OH)(L)(bib)(H2O)2]n (2).The crystallographic studies reveal that1 exhibits only 2D bilayer structure, while 2displays 8-connected node 3-periodic network. The photocatalytic activities of the newly designed MOFs have been tested for the degradation of a model organic dyemethyl violet (MV). The photocatalytic experimental results demonstrated that both 1 and 2 displayed efficient photocatalytic performances to degrade MV under UV irradiation. The mechanism using which these MOFs executed photocatalytic behaviour has been proposed through band structure calculations.