A dual-functional fluorescent Co(II) coordination polymer sensor for the selective sensing of ascorbic acid and acetylacetone

A new coordination polymer (CP), [Co(mu(3)-HT)(mu-bPP)(H2O)](n) 1 (H3L = 5 (3,4 dicarboxylphenoxy) nicotinic acid, bpp = 1,2-bis (4-pyridyl) propane)) has been successfully prepared under solvothermal conditions. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis demonstrates that compound 1 possesses a 2-D layer structure with (3-c)(4-c) 2-nodal (4(2)'6(3)'8) (4(2)'6) topology, which then self-assembles into a final 3-D supramolecular network via the interlayer pi center dot center dot center dot pi interactions. Magnetic studies indicate that there exist weak-anti-ferromagnetic exchange interactions between Co-II ions. More importantly, compound 1 represents a rare example of a fluorescent CP sensor which can dually probe ascorbic acid (AA) and acetylacetone (acac) in aqueous solution. The probable sensing mechanism of both analytes has also been discussed in this paper.