Zhi-Wen Wang, Xiuzhen Wang, Yi-An Chen, Hong-Rui Zheng, Yu-Peng Han, Fei Wang*, Shumei Chen*, Shangda Li*, Jian Zhang

Cite this article: Chin. J. Struct. Chem., 2026, 45(6), 100912. DOI: 10.1016/j.cjsc.2026.100912

Publication date: June 1, 2026

Keywords: Metal-organic frameworks; Circularly polarized luminescence; Circularly polarized fluorescence energy transfer; Ligand functionalization

ABSTRACT

Chiral metal-organic frameworks (CMOFs) exhibit significant potential for circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) due to their effective cooperation of chirality and luminescence. Herein, we utilize circularly polarized fluorescence energy transfer (CPF-ET) as a guiding principle to engineer CPL-active CMOFs through ligand functionalization. Three pairs of enantiomeric CMOFs were synthesized from optically pure chiral benzimidazole-derived ligands and substituted phenyl dicarboxylic acids. The resulting Cd-based CMOFs feature qzd topology and exhibit tunable CPL behaviors dependent on the substituents. Notably, while S/R-1 shows a negligible CPL response, its isomorphic analogue S/R-1-NH2 achieves a significantly enhanced |glum| of 5.3 × 10-3. The substantial impact of ligand functionalization on CPL performance, demonstrated across the series, highlights its critical role and provides a rational design strategy for advanced chiral photonic materials based on the CPF-ET mechanism.