One zinc-based metal organic framework (MOF): [Zn-(LBIX)(HEA)] n (1) was synthesized by hydrothermal synthesis with 4,4'-bis((1H-imidazol-1-yl)methyl)-1,1'-biphenyl (LBIX) and 1,2-phenylenediacetic acid (H 2 HEA) as ligands. The structure was characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The single crystal structure analysis shows that the complex extends along three directions of a, b and c, forming a three-dimensional structure. Experiments related to fluorescence show that the complex 1 has good fluorescence performance in aqueous solution and can be utilized to quickly identify Fe 3 + , CrO 4 2À and Cr 2 O 7 2À ions (K sv quenching efficiency for Fe 3 + :1.71 × 10 4 M À 1 , CrO 4 2À :1.07 × 10 4 M À 1 and Cr 2 O 7 2À :1.15 × 10 4 M À 1 ) and low detection limits (Fe 3 + :1.52 μM, CrO 4 2À :1.53 μM and Cr 2 O 7 2À :1.70 μM).