Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs)

 

Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs) are crystalline nanoporous networks consisting entirely of light elements linked via covalent bonds. This relatively new class of materials was discovered in 2005 by Omar M. Yaghi, and has since attracted immense research interest. Due to their intrinsic porosity, exceptional surface area (up to 4200 m2 g−1), well-defined structure and high modularity, COFs have been proposed for applications in a wide range of fields, including adsorption, gas separation, heterogeneous catalysis, photo- and electrocatalysis, and optoelectronic applications. The chemical properties of a COF depend on the applied monomer and linkage motif, and can be further altered by post-synthetic modifications. The chemistry on the COFs relies on reticular synthesis: extended 2D or 3D frameworks are made by stitching organic molecules together through strong covalent linkages. Depending on the topology of the monomers, the resultant COF can be either an extended 3D structure, or consist of  aligned 2D nanosheets. 

   

COFs lie at the core of the COMOC research activities. We focus both on the synthesis of novel COFs, as well as their various applications, including gas separation, heterogeneous catalysis, sensing, luminescence, photo- and electrocatalysis, As of 2020, COMOC has published over 40 works on COFs. Some of our recent articles: 

  • Laemont, A.; Matthys, G.; Lavendomme, R.; van der Voort, P. Mild and Scalable Conditions for the Solvothermal Synthesis of Imine‐Linked Covalent Organic Frameworks, Angewandte Chemie (2024)

  • Matthys, G.; Laemont, A.; Geyter, N. D.; Rino Morent; Lavendomme, R.; Der, V. Robust Imidazopyridinium Covalent Organic Framework as Efficient Iodine Capturing Materials in Gaseous and Aqueous Environment. Small (2024)

  • Chakraborty, J.; Chatterjee, A.; Korneel Molkens; Nath, I.; Esteban, D. A.; Bourda, L.; Watson, G.; Liu, C.; Dries Van Thourhout; Bals, S.; Pieter Geiregat; Van. Decoding Excimer Formation in Covalent–Organic Frameworks Induced by Morphology and Ring Torsion. Advanced Materials (2024)
  • Sun, J.; Jena, H. S.; Chidharth Krishnaraj; Rawat, K. S.; Abednatanzi, S.; Chakraborty, J.; Laemont, A.; Liu, W.; Chen, H.; Liu, Y.; Leus, K.; Henk Vrielinck; Speybroeck, V. V.; Der, V. Pyrene‐Based Covalent Organic Frameworks for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Peroxide Production. Angewandte Chemie (2023)

  • Van Der Voort, Pascal, et al. "A Visible‐Light‐Harvesting Covalent Organic Framework Bearing Single Nickel Sites as a Highly Efficient Sulfur‐Carbon Cross‐Coupling Dual Catalyst." Angewandte Chemie (2021).

  • Krishnaraj, Chidharth, et al. "Strongly Reducing (Diarylamino) benzene-Based Covalent Organic Framework for Metal-Free Visible Light Photocatalytic H2O2 Generation." Journal of the American Chemical Society (2020)

  • Abednatanzi, Sara, et al. "Metal-free activation of molecular oxygen by covalent triazine frameworks for selective aerobic oxidation." Science Advances (2020)

  • Krishnaraj, Chidharth, et al. "Triggering white-light emission in a 2D imine covalent organic framework through lanthanide augmentation." ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2019)