Four water-soluble hydrazone-based three-dimensional (3D) flexible organic frameworks FOF-1~4 have been synthesized from a semi-rigid tetracationic tetraaldehyde and four flexible dihydrazides. 1H NMR spectroscopy indicated the quantitative formation of FOF-1~4 in D2O, while dynamic light scattering experiments revealed that, depending on the concentration, these porous frameworks display hydrodynamic diameters ranging from 50 nm to 120 nm. The porosity of the frameworks is confirmed by ethanol vapor adsorption experiments of the solid samples as well as the high loading capacity for a 2.3 nm-sized porphyrin guest in water. The new water-soluble frameworks exhibit low cytotoxicity and form inherent pores with diameters of 5.3 nm or 6.7 nm, allowing rapid inclusion of proteins such as bovine serum albumin, green and orange fluorescent proteins, and efficient delivery of the proteins into normal and cancer cells. Flow cytometric analysis reveals percentages of the delivered cells up to 99.8%. Supporting Information The Supporting Information is available free of charge on the ACS Publications website. General methods, synthetic procedures, 1H NMR, IR, DLS, structural modelling, dialysis, cytotoxicity, fluorescence, ITC, CD, CLMS and flow cytometric profiles or images (PDF).

Water-soluble hydrazone-connected 3D flexible organic frameworks have been revealed to in situ load and deliver short DNA into normal and cancer cells.

Light-triggered photoisomerization of the azobenzene (AB) unit in bistable [2]rotaxanes can cause the shuttling of the macrocycle on the dumbbell, resulting in distinctive dual spectral variation characteristics: (1) the spectral change of the photochromic unit and (2) the variation of the charge-transfer band. By employing the CT bond region as an output signal, non-destructive readout of optical information could be achieved.

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The promotion of two sulfate or carboxylate-bearing acyclic cucurbiturils for the water-solubility of arenes and aromatic aldehydes is described. 1 H NMR experiments reveals that sulfate-bearing acyclic cucurbituril (acCB-1) signficantly improves the water-solubility of a number of arenes and aldehydes. For 4,4'-dimethylbiphenyl and biphenyl-4,4'dicarbaldehyde, the solubility can be improved to 8.9 and 11.2 mmol/L, respectively. 19 F NMR experiments demonstrate that carboxylate-bearing acyclic cucurbituril can increase the water-solubilities of pentafluorotoluene and hexafluorobenzene to 5.6 and 3.0 mmol/L, respectively. It is also found that the water-solubilization of acCB-1 for aromatic aldehydes can promote their reaction with acylhydrazines to form hydrozone derivatives. By making use of this promotion, two hydrazone-based macrocycles can be formed from the coupling reactions of two aromatic dialdehdes and one diacylhydrazine in water.