Construction of Flexible Amine-linked Covalent Organic Frameworks by Catalysis and Reduction of Formic Acid via the Eschweiler-Clarke Reaction

Compared to the current mainstream rigid covalent organic frameworks (COFs) linked by imine bonds, flexible COFs have certain advantages of elasticity and self-adaptability, but their construction and application are greatly limited by the complexity in synthesis and difficulty in obtaining regular structure. Herein, we reported for the first time a series of flexible amine-linked COFs with high crystallinity synthesized by formic acid with unique catalytic and reductive bifunctional properties, rather than acetic acid, the most common catalyst for COF synthesis. The reaction mechanism was demonstrated to be a synchronous in situ reduction during the formation of imine bond. The flexibilities of the products endow them with accommodative adaptability to guest molecules, thus increasing the adsorption capacities for nitrogen and iodine by 27 % and 22 %, respectively. Impressively, a novel concept of flexibilization degree was proposed firstly, which provides an effective approach to rationally measure the flexibility of COFs.