These organic-based molecular switches (OMS), [6][7][8][9][10] as their structures and functions can be efficiently tailored by synthetic methods based on centuries of knowledge in organic chemistry, are appealing components for constructing molecular devices, [11][12][13][14] nanoscale electronic circuits, [15][16][17] and various smart materials. [18][19][20][21] For further applications, in particular device fabrication, it is inevitable to incorporate OMS into various solid-state materials. [22][23][24][25] However, presumably because of spatial confinement or inefficient conversion in densely packed solid phase, [26,27] OMS in the solid state, which do not retain identical properties in solution, may partially or even completely lose their switchability and functionality.Immobilizing OMS into metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) ( Figure 1B), a class of organic-inorganic hybrids porous crystalline materials, [28][29][30][31][32][33] could provide a highly appealing route toward switching in solid state. For several reasons this approach is particularly attractive. First, the modularity of the organic components in MOFs paves the way for OMS to be incorporated either in the predesigned organic linkers [34,35] which latter employed as MOF building blocks or by postsynthetic modification approaches after MOF formation. [36] Second, the porosity offers both the essential space for the chemical reactants to access OMS in the MOF pores and appropriate room for OMS to change conformations in the solid-state. [37] Third, the robust nature of MOFs can allow the resulting OMS-based material maintain their crystallinity even upon drastic changes to some of their constituents. [38,39] With proper design strategies, the incorporation of OMS into MOFs not only provides unique opportunities for the solution characteristics of OMS to be smoothly reproduced in the solid state with high fidelity for further applications (e.g., memory device) but also allows the reversible single-crystal-to-singlecrystal transformations, which will enhance our fundamental understanding of the structure-function relationship for the designs and syntheses of novel stimuli-responsive materials.Over the past few years, a lot of efforts have been devoted to the construction of OMS-based MOFs. [40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] Considering the increasing interest in this topic, we herein highlight the recent progress of stimuli-responsive MOFs with OMS inside as part of their organic components. In the first part, we discuss the switching behaviors of OMS under different stimuli in
Stimuli-Responsive MaterialsOrganic-based molecular switches (OMS) are essential components for the ultimate miniaturization of nanoscale electronics and devices. For practical applications, it is often necessary for OMS to be incorporated into functional solid-state materials. However, the switching characteristics of OMS in solution are usually not transferrable to the solid state, presumably because of spatial confinement or inefficient conversion in densely packed solid pha...