Herein,we report a microwave-assisted acid-induced post-treatment method for the formation of linker vacancies within Zr-based metal organic frameworks (Zr-MOFs).The number of linker vacancies can be easily regulated with this method by changing the concentration of the HCl solution and the duration of microwave irradiation.The optimized defective UiO-66 showed higher linker defects with a higher specific surface area and thermal stability.The results of the catalytic cyclization of citronella showed that the Zr-MOFs with more defects exhibited enhanced catalytic performance.This work may provide a new method for the creation of defective MOFs with high activity and stability.