Simple and Efficient Hydrogen Bond-Assisted Unit Exchange for Constructing Highly Soluble Covalent Organic...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Supramolecular Chemistry
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Most covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are insoluble powders, limiting their practical applications.
• Developing solution-processable COFs is crucial for advanced material fabrication and use.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a method for synthesizing soluble COFs from insoluble precursors.
• To investigate the properties and applications of these novel soluble COFs.

Main Methods:

• A solvothermal-treated unit exchange approach was employed.
• Hydrogen bond-assisted strategy was utilized to enhance solubility.
• Soluble COFs were characterized for their dissolution behavior in various solvents.

Main Results:

• Insoluble COF powders were successfully converted into smaller, highly soluble COFs.
• Soluble COFs demonstrated enhanced backbone-solvent hydrogen-bonding interactions.
• The soluble COFs showed remarkable fluorescence quenching for iodine detection (limit of detection as low as 75 nM).
• Fabrication of membranes from soluble COFs for efficient iodine removal from aqueous solutions was achieved.

Conclusions:

• The developed unit exchange method provides a simple and efficient route to soluble COFs.
• Soluble COFs exhibit excellent potential for sensitive iodine detection and environmental remediation applications.