Metal–organic frameworks based on trivalent lanthanides (LnMOFs) are a very promising class of materials for addressing the challenges in engineering of luminescent centres. Lanthanide-bearing phosphors find numerous applications in lighting, optical communications, photonics and biomedical devices. In this critical review we discuss the potential of LnMOFs as multifunctional systems, which combine light emission with properties such as microporosity, magnetism, chirality, molecule and ion sensing, catalysis and activity as multimodal imaging contrast agents. We argue that these materials present a unique chance of observing synergy between several of these properties, such as the coupling between photoluminescence and magnetism. Moreover, an integrated approach towards the design of efficient, stable, cheap, environmentally-friendly and multifunctional luminescent LnMOFs is still missing. Although research into LnMOFs is at its early stage and much basic knowledge is still needed, the field is ripe for new ideas, which will enable sensor devices and photonic prototypes to become a commercial reality (81 references).

After three decades of intense and fundamental research on metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), is there anything left to say or to explain? The synthesis and properties of MOFs have already been comprehensively described elsewhere. It is time, however, to prove the nature of their true usability: technological applications based on these extended materials require development and implementation as a natural consequence of the up-to-known intensive research focused on their design and preparation. The current large number of reviews on MOFs emphasizes practical strategies to develop novel networks with varied crystal size, shape and topology, being mainly devoted to academic concerns. The present survey intends to push the boundaries and summarise the state-of-the-art on the preparation of promising (multi)functional MOFs in worldwide laboratories and their use as materials for industrial implementation. This review starts, on the one hand, to describe several tools and striking examples of remarkable and recent (multi)functional MOFs exhibiting outstanding properties (e.g., in gas adsorption and separation, selective sorption of harmful compounds, heterogeneous catalysis, luminescent and corrosion protectants). On the other hand, and in a second part, it intends to use these examples of MOFs to incite scientists to move towards the transference of knowledge from the laboratories to the industry. Within this context, we exhaustively review the many efforts of several worldwide commercial companies to bring functional MOFs towards the daily use, analysing the various patents and applications reported to date. Overall, this review goes from the very basic concepts of functional MOF engineering and preparation ending up in their industrial production on a large scale and direct applications in society.

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), also known as coordination polymers, are formed by the self-assembly of metallic centres and bridging organic linkers. In this critical review, we review the key advances in the field and discuss the relationship between the nature and structure of specifically designed organic linkers and the properties of the products. Practical examples demonstrate that the physical and chemical properties of the linkers play a decisive role in the properties of novel functional MOFs. We focus on target materials suitable for the storage of hydrogen and methane, sequestration of carbon dioxide, gas separation, heterogeneous catalysis and as magnetic and photoluminescent materials capable of both metal- and ligand-centred emission, ion exchangers and molecular sieves. The advantages of highly active discrete complexes as metal-bearing ligands in the construction of MOFs are also briefly reviewed (128 references).

Microwave heating, used in organic chemistry for several decades, has only recently been applied to the preparation of multi-dimensional coordination polymers, more commonly known as metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). Microwave heating allows short reaction times, fast kinetics of crystal nucleation and growth, and high yields of desirable products which can be isolated with few or no secondary products. The most significant developments in the use of microwave heating for the preparation of MOFs are briefly reviewed from this perspective, emphasizing systematic studies of well-characterised materials, which lead to their isolation in large quantities over economically-viable periods of time. Emphasis is given to the growth of nano-sized crystallites which may find direct applications in functional devices.

The present review focuses on the use of Metal–Organic Frameworks, (MOFs) highlighting the most recent developments in the biological field and as bio-sensors.