Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are a class of crystalline porous organic polymers with permanent porosity and highly ordered structures. Unlike other polymers, a significant feature of COFs is that they are structurally predesignable, synthetically controllable, and functionally manageable. In principle, the topological design diagram offers geometric guidance for the structural tiling of extended porous polygons, and the polycondensation reactions provide synthetic ways to construct the predesigned primary and high-order structures. Progress over the past decade in the chemistry of these two aspects undoubtedly established the base of the COF field. By virtue of the availability of organic units and the diversity of topologies and linkages, COFs have emerged as a new field of organic materials that offer a powerful molecular platform for complex structural design and tailor-made functional development. Here we target a comprehensive review of the COF field, provide a historic overview of the chemistry of the COF field, survey the advances in the topology design and synthetic reactions, illustrate the structural features and diversities, scrutinize the development and potential of various functions through elucidating structure−function correlations based on interactions with photons, electrons, holes, spins, ions, and molecules, discuss the key fundamental and challenging issues that need to be addressed, and predict the future directions from chemistry, physics, and materials perspectives.

We synthesized a two-dimensional (2D) crystalline covalent organic framework (spc-COF) that was designed to be fully π-conjugated and constructed from all sp carbons by C=C condensation reactions of tetrakis(4-formylphenyl)pyrene and 1,4-phenylenediacetonitrile. The C=C linkages topologically connect pyrene knots at regular intervals into a 2D lattice with π conjugations extended along both and directions and develop an eclipsed layer framework rather than the more conventionally obtained disordered structures. The spc-COF is a semiconductor with a discrete band gap of 1.9 electron volts and can be chemically oxidized to enhance conductivity by 12 orders of magnitude. The generated radicals are confined on the pyrene knots, enabling the formation of a paramagnetic carbon structure with high spin density. The sp carbon framework induces ferromagnetic phase transition to develop spin-spin coherence and align spins unidirectionally across the material.

Condensation of hydrazine with 1,3,6,8-tetrakis(4-formylphenyl)pyrene under solvothermal conditions yields highly crystalline two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks. The pyrene units occupy the vertices and the diazabutadiene (-C═N-N═C-) linkers locate the edges of rohmbic-shaped polygon sheets, which further stack in an AA-stacking mode to constitute periodically ordered pyrene columns and one-dimensional microporous channels. The azine-linked frameworks feature permanent porosity with high surface area and exhibit outstanding chemical stability. By virtue of the pyrene columnar ordering, the azine-linked frameworks are highly luminescent, whereas the azine units serve as open docking sites for hydrogen-bonding interactions. These synergestic functions of the vertices and edge units endow the azine-linked pyrene frameworks with extremely high sensitivity and selectivity in chemosensing, for example, the selective detection of 2,4,6-trinitrophenol explosive. We anticipate that the extension of the present azine-linked strategy would not only increase the structural diversity but also expand the scope of functions based on this highly stable class of covalent organic frameworks.

Highly luminescent covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are rarely achieved because of the aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) of π-π stacked layers. Here, we report a general strategy to design highly emissive COFs by introducing an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) mechanism. The integration of AIE-active units into the polygon vertices yields crystalline porous COFs with periodic π-stacked columnar AIE arrays. These columnar AIE π-arrays dominate the luminescence of the COFs, achieve exceptional quantum yield via a synergistic structural locking effect of intralayer covalent bonding and interlayer noncovalent π-π interactions and serve as a highly sensitive sensor to report ammonia down to sub ppm level. Our strategy breaks through the ACQ-based mechanistic limitations of COFs and opens a way to explore highly emissive COF materials.