A robust and multifunctional cuboctahedral [In 36 (μ-OH) 24 (NO 3 ) 8 (Imtb) 24 ] MOF (In(Imtb)-MOF) with an atypical pyramidal nitrate ion-containing hitherto unknown SBU core [In 9 (μ-OH) 6 (NO 3 )] is reported. The intra-and interlayer nitrate ions adopt pyramidal and inverted pyramidal shapes, which separates the active indium site [(In 3 (μ-OH) 2 )NO 3 -(In 3 (μ-OH) 2 )] and linear In 3 (μ-OH) 2 by 0.5 and 0.9 nm, respectively. Additionally, the high density of active metal sites shows remarkable catalytic activity with higher TOF even for sterically hindered substrates in Strecker synthesis and CO 2 cycloaddition. Moreover, the luminescence behavior of In(Imtb)-MOF and the presence of uncoordinated nitrogen atoms are exploited for selective sensing of explosive trinitrophenol (TNP) with a detection limit (LOD) of 2.3 ppb.