Issue 25, 2021

Reticular design and crystal structure determination of covalent organic frameworks

Abstract

Reticular chemistry of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) deals with the linking of discrete organic molecular building units into extended structures adopting various topologies by strong covalent bonds. The past decade has witnessed a rapid development of COF chemistry in terms of both structural diversity and applications. From the structural perspective, irrespective of our subject of concern with regard to COFs, it is inevitable to take into account the structural aspects of COFs in all dimensions from 1D ribbons to 3D frameworks, for which understanding the concepts of reticular chemistry, based mainly on ‘reticular design’, will seemingly lead to unlimited ways of exploring the exquisiteness of this advanced class of porous, extended, and crystalline materials. A comprehensive discussion and understanding of reticular design, therefore, is of paramount importance so that everyone willing to research on COFs can interpret well and chemically correlate the geometrical structures of this subset of reticular materials and their practical applications. This article lies at the heart of using the conceptual basis of reticular chemistry for designing, modeling, and determination of novel infinite and crystalline structures. Especially, the structure determinations are described by means of chronological advances of discoveries and development of COFs whereby their crystal structures are elucidated by modeling through the topological approach, 3D electron diffraction, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and powder X-ray diffraction techniques.

Graphical abstract: Reticular design and crystal structure determination of covalent organic frameworks

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
05 Feb 2021
Accepted
13 May 2021
First published
07 Jun 2021
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2021,12, 8632-8647

Reticular design and crystal structure determination of covalent organic frameworks

H. L. Nguyen, Chem. Sci., 2021, 12, 8632 DOI: 10.1039/D1SC00738F

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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