Thiazole-based Metal-Organic Frameworks for applications in CO2 storage/utilization and luminescence sensing

The design, synthesis and characterization of Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) for assorted applications is nowadays one of the most fruitful research fields in inorganic chemistry and materials science. The high versatility in MOFs design, obtained through a judicious combination of metallic nodes and organic linkers along with their high crystallinity degree are key features that can be exploited in a plethora of applicative fields. While MOFs featuring fully carbocyclic spacers are ubiquitous, much fewer examples are found with (N,S)-containing heterocycles like thiazole. Thiazoles are electron-deficient systems bearing a basic N atom suitable for interaction with acidic molecules; they are intrinsically fluorescent and they can be found in several naturally occurring biomolecules like luciferin (the active component generating luminescence in fireflies). In this lecture, some representative examples of MOFs built with tailored thiazole-containing linkers will be presented, along with their exploitation in the fields of CO2 storage and conversion (CCS/CCU technology) and luminescence sensing of polluting ions in wastewaters