Flexible hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs): opportunities and challenges

Abstract

Flexible behavior is one of the most fascinating features of hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs), which represent an emerging class of porous materials that are self-assembled via H-bonding between organic building units. Due to their unique flexibility, HOFs can undergo structural changes or transformations in response to various stimuli (physical or chemical). Taking advantage of this unique structural feature, flexible HOFs show potential in multifunctional applications such as gas storage/separation, molecular recognition, sensing, proton conductivity, biomedicine, etc. While some other flexible porous materials have been extensively studied, the dynamic behavior of HOFs remains relatively less explored. This perspective highlights the inherent flexible properties of HOFs, discusses their different flexible behaviors, including pore size/shape changes, interpenetration/stacking manner, H-bond breaking/reconstruction, and local dynamic behavior, and highlights their potential applications. We believe that this perspective will not only contribute to HOF chemistry and materials science, but will also facilitate the ongoing extensive research on dynamic porous materials.

Graphical abstract: Flexible hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs): opportunities and challenges

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
20 Apr 2024
Accepted
20 May 2024
First published
21 May 2024
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., 2024, Advance Article

Flexible hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs): opportunities and challenges

J. Li and B. Chen, Chem. Sci., 2024, Advance Article , DOI: 10.1039/D4SC02628D

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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