Phenolic Building Blocks for the Assembly of Functional Materials

Abstract

Phenolic materials have long been known for their use in inks, wood coatings, and leather tanning. However, recently there has been a renewed interest in engineering advanced materials from phenolic building blocks. The intrinsic properties of phenolic compounds, such as metal chelation, hydrogen bonding, pH responsiveness, redox potentials, radical scavenging, polymerization, and light absorbance, have made them a distinct class of structural motifs for the synthesis of functional materials. Materials prepared from phenolic compounds often retain many of these useful properties with synergistic effects in applications ranging from catalysis to biomedicine. The present review provides an overview of the diverse functional materials that can be prepared from phenolic building blocks, bridging the various fields currently studying and using phenolic compounds. Natural and synthetic phenolic compounds are first discussed, followed by the assembly of functional materials. The engineered phenolic materials are grouped under three broad categories: thin films (e.g., metal-phenolic networks and polydopamine); particles (e.g., metal-organic frameworks and superstructures); and bulk materials (e.g., gels). Applications of phenolic-based materials are then presented, focusing mainly on mechanical (e.g., adhesives), biological (e.g., drug delivery), and environmental and energy (e.g., separation and catalysis) applications. Several examples of their emerging applications are also included. Finally, potential routes for the continued integration of disparate fields using phenolic building blocks and fundamental questions still requiring investigation are highlighted, and an outlook of the field is provided.

Functional Macromolecule‐Enabled Colloidal Synthesis: From Nanoparticle Engineering to Multifunctionality

“…It is believed that the repeated oxidation of the built‐in catechol groups of dopamine and intermediates plays a vital role in the formation of PDA . The presence of abundant catechol functionalities in PDA imparts a strong coordination ability with multivalent metal ions (e.g., Fe 3+ , Zn 2+ , and Cu 2+ ) and reducing activity towards noble metal ions (e.g., Ag + ) during or after the formation of PDA . In particular, mussel‐inspired PDA exhibits indiscriminate affinity for almost any substrates regardless of its composition, surface chemistry, and geometry.…”

Enhancing Energy Storage Devices with Biomacromolecules in Hybrid Electrodes

“…Organic electrode materials with redox‐active functional groups such as phenol, carbonyl, quinones, carboxy or amines have been recently investigated to develop more clean and sustainable energy storage devices, substituting conventional electrode materials that mainly consisted of heavy transition metal oxides. These organic functional groups are found in green and naturally abundant biological systems and biomass . They play fundamental roles in numerous metabolic reactions like respiration, photosynthesis or adenosine 5′‐triphosphate (ATP) synthesis, among other biological processes that involve energy conversion and storage through a series of reversible reduction and oxidation reactions, via electron and proton transfer chains.…”

The Biomolecular Corona in 2D and Reverse: Patterning Metal–Phenolic Networks on Proteins, Lipids, Nucleic Acids, Polysaccharides, and Fingerprints

“…For example, meals can drastically alter both the polysaccharide and lipid content in blood, whereas tumor cells often release trace amounts of nucleic acids into the bloodstream during growth and metastasis . A further issue limiting the comprehensive understanding of the biomolecule corona is the challenges associated with studying biomolecule adsorption on particulate nanomaterials due to the complexities of handling, separating, and purifying nanoparticles . Alternatively, macroscopic substrates are in many cases more amenable to studying bio–nano interactions.…”

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