Using the “crystal sponge” approach, weak organic electron donor molecules were impregnated and evenly distributed in a crystal of a metal–organic framework (MOF), with the self-assembly of the donor–acceptor pairs with electron acceptor ligands. The nanopores of the MOF confined them and induced a charge transfer phenomenon, which would not occur between donor and acceptor molecules in a bulk scale.
Zn(ii)-based MOF for detecting FOX-7 like explosives is designed via hydrogen-bond-intensified host–guest interactions. The crystalline MOF achieves 0.14 ppm detection limit and a highest fluorescence quenching constant of 3.22 × 104 M−1.
Novel 2D → 2D entanglement affords close donor–acceptor contacts for electron transfer based photochromism and photomodulable fluorescence of a MOF, which also serves as a regenerable and sensitive luminescent sensor for nitrofuran antibiotics.
Inside Back Cover: Engineering Donor–Acceptor Heterostructure Metal–Organic Framework Crystals for Photonic Logic Computation (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 39/2019)