Achiral Sm(III)-Based Metal–Organic Framework as a Luminescence Sensor for Enantiodiscrimination of Quinine and Quinidine

The effective discrimination and determination of the chiral antimalarial drugs quinine (QN) and quinidine (QD) are extremely important for human health. Herein, a 2D achiral Sm-based metal–organic framework (IMU-MOF1 = [Sm(tpba)(L)]n, where Htpba = 4-(2,2′:6″,2′-terpyridin)-4′-ylbenzioc acid and H2L = 2,2′-biquinoline-4,4′-dicarboxylic acid) was successfully prepared by the solvothermal method. More importantly, IMU-MOF1 was designed as an ultrasensitive fluorescent probe for the identification of chiral enantiomer drugs. The limits of detection for QN and QD are 4.24 × 10–11 and 7.54 × 10–12 M, respectively. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the stronger hydrogen-bonding interactions between IMU-MOF1 and quinine furnish a more efficient energy transfer to the ligands in the sensing process, resulting in a significant fluorescence enhancement of IMU-MOF1