Metal–organic framework (MOF) materials with aqueous stability have a good potential application in the field of mimetic enzymes. However, most of them have poor robustness in aqueous solution due to competitive coordination effects between water molecules and central metal ions. Herein, a copper-based MOF (Cu-SM MOF) was prepared using copper ions and 5-(sulfomethyl) isophthalic acid (5-SMIPA) by a hydrothermal process. Considering the similarity of coordination and morphology with HKUST-1, the aqueous stability and laccase-like activity of the Cu-SM MOF were investigated using HKUST-1 as the reference. The Cu-SM MOF shows superior aqueous stability to HKUST-1 after immersion in buffer solutions, especially under alkaline conditions. Moreover, the Cu-SM MOF possesses higher catalytic activity than HKUST-1 at a high salt concentration, high temperature, etc., because the Cu-SM MOF exhibits lower K_m and higher V_max values than those of laccase and reported mimetic enzymes. The mimetic enzyme behavior of the Cu-SM MOF is demonstrated in the oxidation of phenols, as well as in the detection of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DP) and p-nitrophenol with linear ranges of 1–100 μM and 2–250 μM, and limits of detection of 0.53 μM and 1.62 μM, respectively. Owing to the excellent aqueous stability and laccase-like activity of the Cu-SM MOF, it has great application prospects in many fields, such as the determination of phenols and the treatment of industrial wastewater.

Triarylboranes-based pure organic room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials are rarely investigated because of their large steric hindrance and the electron defect of the boron atom. As a result, creating functional triarylborane RTP materials is difficult. Herein, we report the first photo-activated RTP materials with lifetimes/quantum yields ≤0.18 s/6.83% based on donor (D)–π–acceptor (A) from methylene carbazole-functionalized aminoborane (BN)-doped polymethyl methacrylate (BN-o-Met-Cz@PMMA) under 365 nm UV irradiation (30 s). Incredibly, BN-o-Met-Cz@PMMA films exhibited unprecedented photo-activated RTP dual–response properties (e.g., air + 365 nm: τ_P = 0.18 s, Φ_P = 6.83%; N₂ + 365 nm: τ_P = 0.42 s, Φ_P = 17.34%). Intriguingly, the BN (D–π–A) system demonstrated good versatility for photo-activated RTP whether the electron-donating group or electron-withdrawing group was placed in the ortho (meta)-position of the B atom. As a result, a series of photo-activated single-molecule organic RTP materials with multi-color emission, high quantum yields, and ultra-long lifetimes can be prepared rapidly. BN-X@PMMA films showed broad application prospects for information encryption, data erasure, anti-counterfeiting, and water resistance. Our method provides new strategies for the design, synthesis, and application of RTP materials, thereby enriching the types of organic RTP materials and facilitating further developments in this area.

Transformation of aggregation induced emission (AIE) molecules into functional materials can greatly tune their fluorescence properties and expand their related potential applications. Here, we demonstrate a facile strategy to modulate the fluorescence properties of AIE molecules by confining them within the nanochannels of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). AIE molecules (4,4′-(hydrazine-1,2-diylidene bis(methanylylidene)) bis(3-hydroxybenzoic acid), HDBB) with pH-dependent emission were successfully integrated into UiO-66 resulting in a UiO-66⊃HDBB complex while maintaining the crystal structure by the host–guest process. The fluorescence properties of HDBB can be modulated by virtue of the unique nanospace confining effect. Furthermore, UiO-66⊃HDBB was used as a sensitive and selective fluorescent probe for Cu²⁺ detection in aqueous solution. This study provides a facile strategy for the construction of high performance AIE based luminescent materials with adjustable properties for potential applications.