Lanthanide-grafted hollow bipyridine-based periodic mesoporous organosilicas as chemical sensors.

We have synthesized a co-condensed hollow ethane-bipyridine periodic mesoporous organosilica (HEt-bpy-PMO) as a host material to anchor lanthanides for the purpose of developing a multifunctional chemical sensor. The host material was grafted with lanthanide chloride salts or complexes. The luminescence properties of the developed series of hybrid materials were studied in detail in the solid-state and after dispersing in water. The Eu3+ or Tb3+ singly incorporated materials were investigated for their use as ion sensors, showing ions selectivity towards Cu2+, Co2+ and Fe3+. Additionally, the Eu3+ or Tb3+ incorporated materials showed obvious luminescence quenching behavior towards acetone compared to other organic solvents, indicating excellent acetone sensing selectivity.