Formation of cationic and neutral CuI cluster MOFs have been reported starting from tridentate phosphoramide ligands, [(NHR) ₃P = E] (L¹: R = 3-aminoquinolinyl (AQ), E = S; L²: R = 3-pyridyl (PY), E = S; L³: R = 3-aminoquinolinyl (AQ), E = O). By utilizing L¹, a cationic 2D-MOF {[(L¹) ₂ (Cu₆I₅)](OH) · 3DMF·4MeOH}n, 1 containing a rugby ball shaped discrete Cu₆I₅ cluster has been reported earlier. Formation of a new 3D-MOF {[(L²) ₂ (Cu₆I₄)](OH) ₂· 2DMF}n containing a Zintl type [(Cu₆I₄4) ² ⁺]n cluster chains is reported in this paper. A neutral cluster MOFs 3 with formula unit of {[Cu₄I₄L³ (CH₃CN)] · 2DMF · 3H₂O}n has been prepared from the ligand L³. Formation of the smaller Cu₄I₄ clusters in the MOF 3 is due to the presence of a MeCN ligation at one of the Cu(I) atoms which not only precludes the extension of the assembly in three dimension but also reduces the size of the obtained cluster. Unlike 1 which showed a ligand-assisted thermochromism, photophysical studies on the 3D-MOF 2 exhibited green phosphorescence at both 298 K and 77 K. The occurrence of the phosphorescence at 77 K in 2 is due to triplet cluster centered (³CC) excited state of the cluster as there is no ligand-centered transition observed at 298 K. The 2D-MOF 3 does not show any characteristic luminescence behavior as the presence of the acetonitrile coordination at one of the Cu(I) ion is believed to quench the emission by non-radiative pathways. Further, luminescence quenching experiments on 1 and 2 with aromatic nitro-analytes showed a very high sensing selectivity for picric acid (TNP) over other aromatic nitro-analytes.