Among numerous crystalline porous materials, hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) have emerged as promising platforms for luminescent sensing due to their structural tunability, porosity, and diverse functional sites. By anchoring lanthanide (Ln3+) ions into HOFs, the resulting Ln3+-anchored HOFs (Ln@HOFs) synergistically combine the exceptional photophysical properties of Ln3+ ions (e.g., sharp emissions, long lifetimes, and large Stokes shifts) with the flexible design of HOFs, enabling highly sensitive and selective sensing. This review systematically summarizes recent advances in the construction strategies, as well as their groundbreaking applications in sensing of environmental pollutants, biomarkers, antibiotics, food additives, volatile organic compounds, temperature, etc. Although considerable progress has been made, Ln@HOFs still face challenges in optimizing stability, enhancing interference resistance, and achieving scalable synthesis. Future research should pursue multifunctional integration and sustainable material design, which are key to establishing Ln@HOFs as transformative technologies for environmental monitoring, healthcare diagnostics, and industrial safety.
Zhu et al. (Tue,) studied this question.