A novel Co(ii)-based MOF with selective fluorescence as a turn-on sensor for biomarker methylmalonic acid

Developing high-performance sensing materials for the sensitive detection of methylmalonic acid (MMA) in biological samples is pretty important for the early diagnosis, recognition and treatment of related diseases. In this work, a Co(II)-based metalorganic framework (MOF), {[Co(L)(bibp)]bibp center dot 2H(2)O}(n) (1) (H2L = 2,6-di(4-carboxylphenyl)-4-(4-(triazol-1-ylphenyl))pyridine, and bibp = 4,4'-bis(imidazolyl)biphenyl), has been solvothermally obtained with good chemical and thermal stabilities. Concurrently, 1 showed an excellent fluorescence turn-on response capability for the detection of the vitamin B-12 biomarker MMA with outstanding sensitivity, selectivity, recoverability and anti-interference ability, which makes it the first Co(II)-based MOF as a turn-on fluorescence sensor for MMA. Moreover, a mechanism study showed that photoinduced electron transfer is crucial to MMA detection.