The detection of antibiotics: fluorescence sensors based on metal-organic frameworks with aggregation-induced emission.

The increasingly serious problem of bacterial resistance calls for the development of new and effective probes for the detection of antibiotics. The highly porous luminescent metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) can act as fluorescent probes for the detection of antibiotics due to their larger surface area, adjustable pore size, designable functional sites, and excellent host-guest interaction capabilities. Furthermore, considering the unique advantages of aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens), including high aggregated emission efficiency, large Stokes shifts, and good photostability, the integration of AIEgens into MOFs, termed as AIE-MOFs, could lead to enhanced sensing capabilities with improved selectivity for antibiotics. Over the past decade, a variety of AIE-MOFs have been constructed, exhibiting good sensing ability for many kinds of antibiotics such as nitrofuran, tetracycline, fluoroquinolone and aminoglycosides. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the synthesis strategies, recognition modes, recognition mechanisms, and the practical applications of AIE-MOFs, focusing on the sensitivity, selectivity, and anti-interference capability. In addition, the recoverability and visual applications of AIE-MOFs have also been presented. Finally, the current challenges and future trends in this field, including the structural design, mechanism study and multifunctional applications of AIE-MOFs are discussed as well, aiming to inspire more efforts toward this research frontier.