The solvothermal reaction of Zn(NO)·6HO and a linear dicarboxylate ligand HL, in the presence of urotropine in N,N'-dimethylformamide (DMF), gives rise to a new porous two-dimensional (2D) coordination network, {[Zn(L)(urotropine)]·2DMF·3HO} (1), with hxl topology. Interestingly, framework 1 exhibits excellent emission properties owing to the presence of naphthalene moiety in the linker HL, that can be efficiently suppressed by subtle quantity of nitro explosives in aqueous medium. Furthermore, presence of urotropine molecules bound to the metal centers, 1 is found to be an excellent heterogeneous catalyst meant for atom-economical C-C bond-forming Baylis-Hillman reactions. Additionally, crystals of 1 undergo complete transmetalation with Cu(II) to afford isostructural 1. Moreover, the 2D framework of 1 allows replacement of urotropine molecules by 4,4'-azopyridine (azp) linker resulting in a three-dimensional (3D) metal-organic framework, {[Zn(L)(azp)]·4DMF 2HO} (2). The 1→2 transformation takes place in single-crystal-to-single crystal manner supported by powder X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and morphological studies. Remarkably, during this 2D→3D transformation, the original trinuclear [Zn(COO)] secondary building unit changes to a mononuclear node, which is unprecedented.

A porous Cu(ii)-MOF shows an adsorption of 6.6 wt% of H at 77 K and 62 bar and a very high 60 wt% of CO at 298 K and 32 bar. When air is bubbled into a suspension of the activated MOF in the presence of different epoxides at room temperature, the CO in air is readily converted into the corresponding cyclic carbonates.

A novel 2(2′-hydroxyphenyl) benzothiazole-based cryptand (L) exhibits high fluorescence intensity in the presence of Zn2+ ions by stopping the excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) process with a detection limit of 0.20 μM.