Nowadays, coordination polymers (CPs)
are promising candidates
as sensory materials for their high sensitivity, improved selectivity,
fast responsive nature, as well as good recyclability. However, poor
chemical stability often makes their practical usage limited. Herein,
employing a mixed ligand approach, we constructed a chemically robust
CP, {[Zn2L2(DPA)2]·3H2O}
n
(IITKGP-70, IITKGP stands
for the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur), which exhibited
excellent framework robustness not only in water but also over a broad
range of pH solutions (pH = 3–11). The developed framework
displayed high selectivity and sensitivity for the detection of trivalent
Al3+ ions and toxic hexavalent Cr(VI)-oxo anions in an
aqueous medium. The developed framework exhibited
an aqueous medium Al3+
turn-on phenomenon with a limit of detection (LOD) value of 1.29 μM,
whereas a turn-off effect was observed for toxic
oxo-anions (Cr2O7
2– and CrO4
2–) having LOD values of 0.27 and 0.71 μM,
respectively. Both turn-on and turn-off mechanisms are speculated via spectroscopic methods
coupled with several ex situ studies. Such a multiresponsive nature (both turn-on and turn-off) for aqueous medium detection
of targeted cations and anions simultaneously in a single platform
coupled with high robustness, ease of scalability, recyclability,
and fast-responsive nature makes IITKGP-70 highly fascinating
as a sensory material for real-world applications.