Two cadmium-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), namely [Cd-5(BTC)(4)(DMAc)(2)(H2O)(2)DMF]center dot 2[H2N(CH3)(2)]center dot 4DMAc (JUC-133) and [Cd-3(BTC)(2)(DMSO)(4)] (JUC-134) (JUC = Jilin University, China), based on 1, 3, 5-benzenetricarboxylic acid ligand (H3BTC) were synthesized by solvent-induced strategy under solvothermal conditions and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, FT-IR spectroscopy, luminescent spectroscopy, TGA analysis, and powder X-ray diffraction. The ligand is connected to cadmium metals to form different cores with distinctive coordination modes to generate different structures. JUC-133 displays a new three-dimensional (3D) topology with the point symbol (4 center dot 6(2))(4)(4 center dot 8(2))(4)(4(2)center dot 6(5)center dot 8(3))(4)(8(6)) based on Cd-2(COO)(5) and Cd-2(COO)(4) as secondary building units (SBUs), which is unknown in previously reported MOFs. JUC-134 can be symbolized as a rutile (rtl) topology with the point symbol (4 center dot 6(2))(2)(4(2)center dot 6(10)center dot 8(3)) based on Cd-3(COO)(6) as SBUs. Furthermore, the luminescent of the ligand H3BTC and compounds were measured at room temperature. It is worth noting that the solvent could play an important role in the structural assembly process. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.