Tetraphenylethene-Based Luminescent Metal–Organic Framework for Effective Differentiation of cis/trans Isomers

Luminescent metal–organic frameworks (LMOFs) that can effectively differentiate cis/trans isomers are rarely reported. Herein, we report a novel non-interpenetrated pillared-layered LMOF [Zn(HIPA)(BPyTPE)] (1) (BPyTPE = (E)-1,2-diphenyl-1,2-bis(4-(pyridin-4-yl)phenyl)ethene; HIPA = (5-hydroxyisophthalic acid)) with a high fluorescence quantum yield of 90.1%. The activated 1 exhibits high thermal stability and strong fluorescence in a methanol suspension. The fluorescence of activated 1 can be much more efficiently quenched by trans-dimethyl-2-butenedioate and trans-2-butene-1,4-diol than cis-dimethyl-2-butenedioate and cis-2-butene-1,4-diol, which enables it to differentiate these cis/trans isomers. This interesting LMOF could be a new type of fluorescence sensor to effectively detect cis/trans isomers.