Cyanurate-Linked Covalent Organic Frameworks Enabled by Dynamic Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitution
Zepeng Lei, Lacey J. Wayment, Jackson R. Cahn, Hongxuan Chen, Shaofeng Huang, Xubo Wang, Yinghua Jin, Sandeep Sharma, Wei Zhang
Abstract
We report, for the first time, highly crystalline cyanurate-linked covalent organic frameworks synthesized via dynamic nucleophilic aromatic substitution. The high crystallinity is enabled by the bond exchange reaction (self-correction) between 2,4,6-triphenoxy-1,3,5-triazine and diphenols via reversible SNAr catalyzed by triazabicyclodecene. The CN-COFs contain flexible backbones that exhibit a unique AA′-stacking due to interlayer hydrogen bonding interactions. The isoreticular expansion study demonstrates the general applicability of this synthetic method. The resulting CN-COFs exhibited good stability, as well as high CO2/N2 selectivity.