Thiophene-based covalent organic frameworks for highly efficient iodine capture

Development of adsorbent materials for highly efficient iodine capture is high demand from the perspective of ecological environment and human health. Herein, the two kinds of thiophene-based covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with different morphologies were synthesized by solvothermal reaction using thieno[3,2-b]thiophene-2,5-dicarbaldehyde (TT) as the aldehyde monomer and tri(4-aminophenyl)benzene (PB) or tris(4-aminophenyl)amine (PA) as the amino monomer (denoted as PB-TT COF and PA-TT COF) and the as-prepared two heteroatoms-rich COFs possessed many excellent properties, including high thermal stability and abundant binding sites. Among them, PB-TT COF exhibited ultra-high iodine uptake up to 5.97 g/g in vapor, surpassing most of adsorbents previously reported, which was ascribed to its high specific surface (1305.3 m²/g). Interestingly, PA-TT COF with low specific surface (48.6 m²/g) showed good adsorption ability for iodine in cyclohexane solution with uptake value of 750 mg/g, which was 2.38 times higher than that obtained with PB-TT COF due to its unique sheet-like morphology. Besides, the two COFs possessed good reusability, high selectivity and iodine retention ability. Based on experimental results, the adsorption mechanisms of both COFs were studied, revealing that iodine was captured by the physical-chemical adsorption. Furthermore, the both COFs showed excellent adsorption ability in real radioactive seawater treated safely, demonstrating their great potential in real environment.     

Experimental and theoretical insights into copper phthalocyanine-based covalent organic frameworks for highly efficient radioactive iodine capture

Exploring efficient materials for capturing radioactive iodine in nuclear waste is of great significance for the progress of nuclear energy as well as the protection of ecological environment. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have emerged as promising adsorbents because of their predesignable and functionalizable skeleton structures. However, it remains a grand challenge to achieve large scale preparation of COFs. In this work, we developed a mild and efficient microwave irradiation method instead of the traditional solvothermal method to prepare copper phthalocyanine-based covalent organic frameworks (Cu_xPc-COFs) within only 15 min. The nitrogen-rich 1,2,4,5-tetracarbonitrilebenzene (TCNB) was selected as the solely organic ligand to construct copper phthalocyanine-based 2D conjugated COFs. The resultant Cu_xPc-COFs exhibited excellent iodine enrichment with 2.99 g/g for volatile iodine and 492.27 mg/g for iodine-cyclohexane solution, respectively, outperforming that of many porous materials. As indicated by spectroscopic analysis and DFT calculations, this impressive adsorption performance can be attributed to the charge transfer arising from nitrogen-rich phthalocyanine structures and electron-rich π-conjugated systems with iodine molecules. Moreover, the strong electrostatic interaction between Cu(II) on chelate centers and polyiodide anions (I_x^?) also play an important role in the firmly trapping radioactive iodine. Therefore, this study provides a facile and intelligent approach to implement metal-based COFs for the remediation of toxic radioactive iodine.     

Efficient gaseous iodine capture enhanced by charge-induced effect of covalent organic frameworks with dense tertiary-amine nodes

Based on the outstanding application advantages of nitrogen-rich materials with regular porous frameworks in the capture of gaseous radioactive iodine, a series of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with dual channels and abundant tertiary-amine active sites were constructed herein via a unique multi-nitrogen node design. The high density of up-to-six nitrogen adsorption sites in a single structural unit of the products effectively improved the adsorption capacities of the materials for iodine. Moreover, the adsorption affinity of the active sites can be further regulated by charge-induced effect of different electron-donating groups introduced into the COFs. Adsorption experiments combined with DFT theoretical calculations confirmed that the introduction of electron-donating groups can effectively increase the electron density around the active sites and enhance the binding energy between the materials and iodine, and thus improve the iodine adsorption capacity to 5.54 g/g. The construction strategy of multi-nitrogen node and charge-induced effect proposed in this study provides an important guidance for the study of the structure-activity relationship of functional materials and the design and preparation of high-performance iodine adsorption materials.     

Design of covalent organic frameworks for methane storage

We designed 14 new covalent organic frameworks (COFs), which are expected to adsorb large amounts of methane (CH(4)) at 298 K and up to 300 bar. We have calculated their delivery uptake using grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations. We also report their thermodynamic stability based on 7.5 ns molecular dynamics simulations. Two new frameworks, COF-103-Eth-trans and COF-102-Ant, are found to exceed the DOE target of 180 v(STP)/v at 35 bar for methane storage. Their performance is comparable to the best previously reported materials: PCN-14 and Ni-MOF-74. Our results indicate that using thin vinyl bridging groups aid performance by minimizing the interaction methane-COF at low pressure. This is a new feature that can be used to enhance loading in addition to the common practice of adding extra fused benzene rings. Most importantly, this report shows that pure nonbonding interactions, van der Waals (vdW) and electrostatic forces in light elements (C, O, B, H, and Si), can rival the enhancement in uptake obtained for microporous materials derived from early transition metals.     

离子型共价有机框架材料的合成及其催化性能（英文）

共价有机框架(COFs)材料是在拓扑学基础上发展起来的一类新型有机晶体多孔聚合物.由于COFs材料具有较高的比表面积、良好的热稳定性和化学稳定性、可设计的孔结构以及容易修饰改性的特点,目前广泛用作催化剂或催化剂载体.COFs的构筑单体为有机小分子,其来源广泛且种类繁多,使得构筑单体多样化,便于通过构筑单体来调控目标材料的结构和功能.近年来对COFs的研究已经引起人们广泛关注.离子框架材料在气体分子的吸附与分离领域展示了良好性能,通过简单的离子交换过程,可以容易地将具有特定尺寸和功能的反离子引入到框架结构中来调控孔的尺寸大小,从而实现混合气体的有效分离.然而,在催化领域目前尚未见将具有特定催化功能的反离子基团引入到框架之中,研究离子框架材料的催化性能.本文设计合成了一种负电荷为骨架结构的离子型COFs材料.我们首先选取一种化学结构稳定的COF作为骨架前驱体,其中的单体具有可反应的活性基团酚羟基,然后通过与1,3-丙烷磺酸内酯进行开环反应,将烷基磺酸引入到孔中,经过弱碱处理后得到阴离子型COFs(I-COFs),然后通过简单的离子交换过程将具有催化活性的Mn2+以及[Mn(bpy)2]2+配位阳离子分别引入到COFs框架中,得到具有催化功能的新材料.我们考察了两种I-COFs对烯烃氧化制环氧化合物的催化性能,发现所得离子COFs对不同的反应底物均展示了较高的环氧化催化性能.结果证实了离子I-COF催化反应为多相催化,还表现出I-COFs催化剂具有较高的稳定性以及循环使用性能.我们认为,通过简单的离子交换过程,能够赋予I-COFs材料各种不同的功能,从而实现COFs在不同领域的应用.这为多孔材料的功能化设计提供了新的化学平台.     

Industry-compatible covalent organic frameworks for green chemical engineering

In order to move towards sustainable development, the discovery of energy-efficient and environmentally friendly materials has become increasingly imperative. Covalent organic frameworks(COFs) as emerging designable crystalline porous materials have captured increasing attention for a wide array of clean-energy and environmental applications, attributed to their attractive advantages of low density, high surface area, adjustable and periodic pores, and functional skeletons. This review attempts ...     

Cobalt-containing covalent organic frameworks for visible light-driven hydrogen evolution

Covalent organic frameworks(COFs) have recently emerged as a new class of photocatalysts.However,integrated design is crucial to maximizing the performance of COF-incorporating photocatalytic systems.Herein,we compare two strategies of installing earth-abundant metal-based catalytic centers into the matrice of a 2 D COF named NUS-55.Compared to NUS-55(Co)prepared from the post-synthetic metalation of coordination sites within the COF,the molecular co-catalyst impregnated NUS-55/[Co(bpy)3]Cl2 achieves a seven-fold improvement in visible light-driven H2 evolution rate to 2,480 μmol g^-1h^-1,with an apparent quantum efficiency(AQE) of 1.55% at 450 nm.Our results show that the rational design of molecular anchoring sites in COFs for the introduction of catalytic metal sites can be a viable strategy for the development of highly efficient photocatalysts with enhanced stability and photocatalytic activities.     

Reticular synthesis of covalent organic borosilicate frameworks

This paper reports the synthesis and characterization of a new crystalline 3D covalent organic framework, COF-202: [C(C6H4)4]3[B3O6 (tBuSi)2]4, formed from condensation of a divergent boronic acid, tetra(4-dihydroxyborylphenyl)methane, and tert-butylsilane triol, tBuSi(OH)3. This framework is constructed through strong covalent bonds (Si-O, B-O) that link triangular and tetrahedral building units to form a structure based on the carbon nitride topology. COF-202 demonstrates high thermal stability, low density, and high porosity with a surface area of 2690 m2 g-1. The design and synthesis of COF-202 expand the type of linkage that could be used to crystallize new materials with extended covalent organic frameworks.     

Linker-activated covalent organic frameworks with azo bridges

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Highly stable dioxin-linked metallophthalocyanine covalent organic frameworks

We report a series of highly stable metallophthalocyanine-based covalent organic frameworks (MPc-dx-COFs) linked by robust 1,4-dioxin bonds constructed through nucleophilic aromatic substitution (S_NAr) reaction. The chemical structures and crystallinity of the COFs largely remain unchanged even after treating with boiling water (90 °C), concentrated acids (12 mol/L HCl) or bases (12 mol/L NaOH), oxidizing (30% H₂O₂) or reducing agents (1 mol/L NaBH₄) for three days due to their stable M-Pc building blocks and resilient dioxin linkers. With metallated phthalocyanine active sites regularly arranged in the stable framework structures, MPc-dx-COFs can be directly used as efficient electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) without pyrolysis treatment that has commonly been used in previous studies.     

Crystallinity and stability of covalent organic frameworks

Covalent organic frameworks(COFs) are a class of organic porous polymers with high crystallinity, and their structures can be precisely tailored via topology design. Owing to the characteristics of permanent pores, periodic structures and rich building blocks, COFs have triggered tremendous attention in the past fifteen years and are extensively investigated in various fields.Crystallinity and stability are two crucial features for practical applications. In general, these two features are contradictory for COFs formed via dynamic covalent chemistry(DCC). High thermodynamic reversibility is usually required to attain exceptional crystallinity of COFs, often resulting in limited stability. The first two reported COFs are based on the boroxine and boronate ester linkages, which are unstable in water and even in humid conditions. Therefore, many researchers doubt the stability of COFs for real applications. Actually, in these years, various novel linkages have been developed for the construction of COFs,and numerous newly synthesized COFs are robust towards strong acid/base and even some of them can resist the attack of strong oxidizing and reducing agents. In this review, we focus on the linkage chemistry of the COFs in terms of crystallinity and stability, further extending it to the investigation in the mechanisms of the crystal growth and the overall regulation of the contradiction between stability and crystallinity. The strategies for improving the crystallinity, including selecting building units,introducing non-covalent interactions and slowing nucleation and growth rate, are described in the third section, while the methodologies for increasing the stability from the viewpoints of chemical modification and non-covalent interactions are summarized in the fourth section. Finally, the challenges and perspectives are presented.     

Highly conducting Wurster-type twisted covalent organic frameworks

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) define a versatile structural paradigm combining attractive properties such as crystallinity, porosity, and chemical and structural modularity which are valuable for various applications. For the incorporation of COFs into optoelectronic devices, efficient charge carrier transport and intrinsic conductivity are often essential. Here, we report the synthesis of two imine-linked two-dimensional COFs, WTA and WBDT, featuring a redox-active Wurster-type motif based on the twisted tetragonal N,N,N′,N′-tetraphenyl-1,4-phenylenediamine node. By condensing this unit with either terephthalaldehyde (TA) or benzodithiophene dialdehyde (BDT), COFs featuring a dual-pore kagome-type structure were obtained as highly crystalline materials with large specific surface areas and mesoporosity. In addition, the experimentally determined high conduction band energies of both COFs render them suitable candidates for oxidative doping. The incorporation of a benzodithiophene linear building block into the COF allows for high intrinsic macroscopic conductivity. Both anisotropic and average isotropic electrical conductivities were determined with van der Pauw measurements using oriented films and pressed pellets, respectively. Furthermore, the impact of different dopants such as F₄TCNQ, antimony pentachloride and iodine on the conductivities of the resulting doped COFs was studied. By using the strong organic acceptor F₄TCNQ, a massive increase of the radical cation density (up to 0.5 radicals per unit cell) and long-term stable electrical conductivity as high as 3.67 S m⁻¹ were achieved for the anisotropic transport in an oriented film, one of the highest for any doped COF to date. Interestingly, no significant differences between isotropic and anisotropic charge transport were found in films and pressed pellets. This work expands the list of possible building nodes for electrically conducting COFs from planar systems to twisted geometries. The achievement of high and stable electrical conductivity paves the way for possible applications of new COFs in organic (opto)electronics.

Covalent organic frameworks define a versatile structural paradigm combining various attractive properties. The impact of different dopants on the conductivity of imine-linked 2D COFs featuring a redox-active Wurster-type motif was studied.     

Crystalline covalent organic frameworks with hydrazone linkages

Condensation of 2,5-diethoxyterephthalohydrazide with 1,3,5-triformylbenzene or 1,3,5-tris(4-formylphenyl)benzene yields two new covalent organic frameworks, COF-42 and COF-43, in which the organic building units are linked through hydrazone bonds to form extended two-dimensional porous frameworks. Both materials are highly crystalline, display excellent chemical and thermal stability, and are permanently porous. These new COFs expand the scope of possibilities for this emerging class of porous materials.     

Two-dimensional porphyrin- and phthalocyanine-based covalent organic frameworks

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) represent an emerging class of porous crystalline materials and have recently shown interesting applications from catalysis to optoelectronic devices. In this review, by covering most of the reported work, we summarized the research progress of two-dimensional (2D) porphyrin- and phthalocyanine-based COFs, with highlighting the synthesis of these 2D COFs via various dynamic covalent reactions and emphasizing their potential applications in different areas.     

Chiral covalent organic frameworks for asymmetric catalysis and chiral separation

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs), covalently assembled from the condensation reactions of organic building blocks, are a fascinating class of functional porous materials with two- or three-dimensional crystalline organic structures. Generally, it is preferable to use symmetric and rigid building blocks to construct highly crystalline COFs with desired topology. On the other hand, the incorporation of chiral functional moieties in the building blocks would open up new applications such as asymmetric catalysis and chiral separation. This mini review highlights the principle strategies in the design and synthesis of chiral COFs. The interesting and potential applications of these chiral COFs for asymmetric catalysis and chiral separation are also summarized. This mini review aims to provide an up-to-date advancement of chiral COFs for asymmetric catalysis and chiral separation.     

二维共价有机框架材料中引入含氮配体用于络合金属催化

共价有机骨架材料(COF)也被称为“有机分子筛”,具有孔道结构开放有序、易于进行化学修饰改性、化学/热稳定性好等优点,是一种新型的有机聚合物多孔材料.近年来,以COF材料为催化剂载体负载金属化合物用于制备多相反应催化剂已经成为材料领域研究的热点,表现出高活性和高选择性.但是到目前为止,仍未找到简单有效地控制骨架中金属负载量和分散性的方法,这已成为该领域一个具有挑战性的课题.
　　本文以2,2’-联吡啶-5,5’-二甲醛作为其中一个结构基元,成功把联吡啶配体引入到二维材料中.除此之外,由于COF是以亚胺键联接构筑形成的,因此框架中同时存在联吡啶和亚胺键两种含氮配体.我们通过红外光谱、结构模拟、元素分析、热失重分析、透射电镜(TEM)、X-射线光电子能谱、电感耦合等离子体色谱等手段详细表征了所制备的二维共价有机框架材料对醋酸钯(Pd(OAc)2)分子的络合负载行为.
　　研究发现,联吡啶和亚胺键均可参与配位Pd(OAc)2,与亚胺键配位的Pd(OAc)2分布于框架的层与层之间,而与联吡啶配位的则部分占据了框架的孔道,导致孔径减小.另外,由于框架中的联吡啶配体含量可通过加入2,2’-联吡啶-5,5’-二甲醛含量的变化实现线性调控,因此也可调节与其配位的Pd(OAc)2含量,其负载量可控制在14.3–18.7 wt%,是目前已报道的二维COF中的最高值;另外, COF材料中调控金属负载量尚未见报道. TEM结果显示,负载在框架中的催化剂分子没有发生团聚,框架的孔道仍处于开放状态,因而反应底物可以自由地出入一维孔道并与络合的催化剂充分接触.另外,由于催化剂在框架内部可以达到分子级别的分散,而且其负载量和负载位置都易于控制,因而对有机反应表现出了优异的催化性能.
　　我们尝试了以不同Pd负载量的COF为多相催化剂催化Heck反应.结果发现, Pd(II)@75%BPy COF(Pd负载量为最高值18.7 wt%)的催化活性最高,对不同底物均表现出优异的催化性能,产率达73–96%,反应速率遵循一级动力学曲线.且催化剂经多次循环利用仍能保持高活性,框架的有序结构也未被破坏,因此该材料有望用于各种类型优异的多相反应催化剂.     

Recent advances in metal‐organic frameworks and covalent organic frameworks for sample preparation and chromatographic analysis

In the field of analytical chemistry, sample preparation and chromatographic separation are two core procedures. The means by which to improve the sensitivity, selectivity and detection limit of a method have become a topic of great interest. Recently, porous organic frameworks, such as metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs), have been widely used in this research area because of their special features, and different methods have been developed. This review summarizes the applications of MOFs and COFs in sample preparation and chromatographic stationary phases. The MOF‐ or COF‐based solid‐phase extraction (SPE), solid‐phase microextraction (SPME), gas chromatography (GC), high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and capillary electrochromatography (CEC) methods are described. The excellent properties of MOFs and COFs have resulted in intense interest in exploring their performance and mechanisms for sample preparation and chromatographic separation.     

Phenothiazine-based covalent organic frameworks with low exciton binding energies for photocatalysis

Designing delocalized excitons with low binding energy (E_b) in organic semiconductors is urgently required for efficient photochemistry because the excitons in most organic materials are localized with a high E_b of >300 meV. In this work, we report the achievement of a low E_b of ∼50 meV by constructing phenothiazine-based covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with inherent crystallinity, porosity, chemical robustness, and feasibility of bandgap engineering. The low E_b facilitates effective exciton dissociation and thus promotes photocatalysis by using these COFs. As a demonstration, we subject these COFs to photocatalytic polymerization to synthesize polymers with remarkably high molecular weight without any requirement of the metal catalyst. Our results can facilitate the rational design of porous materials with low E_b for efficient photocatalysis.

We report the construction of phenothiazine-based covalent organic frameworks, which exhibited diverse structures, the feasibility of bandgap engineering, and unprecedented ultralow exciton binding energy of ∼50 meV for photocatalytic polymerization.     

A novel channel-wall engineering strategy for two-dimensional cationic covalent organic frameworks: Microwave-assisted anion exchange and enhanced carbon dioxide capture

A novel channel-wall engineering strategy of the porous materials cationic covalent organic frameworks(COFs)is established based on rapid microwave-assisted anion exchange reaction and utilized to prepare a set of new COFs.Due to the interaction between the carbon dioxide(C02)and the acetate anion,the resulting SJTU-COF-AcO shows greatly enhanced carbon dioxide capacity up to 1.7 times of the pristine COF.The effect of the counteranions to CO2 capacity in the cationic COFs is investigated for the first time,which demonstrates that our channel-wall engineering strategy is a promising way to tailor the property of COFs for high CO2 capacity.