While crystalline covalent organic frameworks (COFs) linked by C–C bonds are highly desired in synthetic chemistry, it remains a formidable challenge to synthesize. Efforts to generate C–C single bonds in COFs via de novo synthesis usually afford amorphous structures rather than crystalline phases. We demonstrate here that C–C single bond-based COFs can be prepared by direct reduction of CC bond-linked frameworks via crystal-to-crystal transformation. By Knoevenagel polycondensation of chiral tetrabenzaldehyde of dibinaphthyl-22-crown-6 with 1,4-phenylenediacetonitrile or 4,4′-biphenyl­diaceto­nitrile, two olefin-linked chiral COFs with 2D layered tetragonal structure are prepared. Reduction of olefin linkages of the as-prepared CCOFs produces two C–C single bond linked frameworks, which retains high crystallinity and porosity as well as high chemical stability in both strong acids and bases. The quantitative reduction is confirmed by Fourier transform infrared and cross-polarization magic angle spinning 13C NMR spectroscopy. Compared to the pristine structures, the reduced CCOFs display blue-shifted emission with enhanced quantum yields and fluorescence lifetimes, while the parent CCOFs exhibit higher enantioselectivity than the reduced analogs when be used as fluorescent sensors to detect chiral amino alcohols via supramolecular interactions with the built-in crown ether moieties. This work provides an attractive strategy for making chemically stable functionalized COFs with new linkages that are otherwise hard to produce.

Resolving single-crystal structures of two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks (2D COFs) is a great challenge, hindered in part by limited strategies for growing high-quality crystals. A better understanding of the growth mechanism facilitates development of methods to grow high-quality 2D COF single crystals. Here, we take a different perspective to explore the 2D COF growth process by tracing growth intermediates. We discover two different growth mechanisms, nucleation and self-healing, in which self-assembly and pre-arrangement of monomers and oligomers are important factors for obtaining highly crystalline 2D COFs. These findings enable us to grow micron-sized 2D single crystalline COF Py-1P. The crystal structure of Py-1P is successfully characterized by three-dimensional electron diffraction (3DED), which confirms that Py-1P does, in part, adopt the widely predicted AA stacking structure. In addition, we find the majority of Py-1P crystals (>90%) have a previously unknown structure, containing 6 stacking layers within one unit cell.

The development of methodologies for inducing and tailoring enantioselectivities of catalysts is an important issue in asymmetric catalysis. In this work, we demonstrate for the first time that chiral molecular catalysts can be boosted from completely nonselective to highly enantioselective when installed in nanostructured metal− organic frameworks (MOFs). Exfoliation of layered crystals is one of the most direct synthetic routes to unltrathin nanosheets, but its use in MOFs is limited by the availability of layered MOFs. We illustrate that layered MOFs can be designed using ligand-capped metal clusters and angular organic linkers. This leads to the synthesis of two threedimensional (3D) layered porous MOFs from Zn 4 -p-tert-butylsulfonyl calix[4]arene and chiral angular 1,1′-binaphthol/biphenol dicarboxylic acids, which can be ultrasonic exfoliated into one-and two-layer nanosheets. The obtained MOF materials are efficient catalysts for asymmetric cascade condensation and cyclization of 2-aminobenzamide and aldehydes to produce 2,3-dihyroquinazolinones. While both binaphthol and biphenol display no enantioselectivity, restriction of their freedom in the MOFs leads to 56−90% and 46−72% ee, respectively, which are increased to 72−94% and 64−82% ee after exposure to external surfaces of the flexible nanosheets. Moreover, the MOF crystals and nanosheets exhibit highly sensitive fluorescent enhancement in the presence of chiral amino alcohols with enantioselectivity factors being, respectively, increased up to 1.4 and 2.3 times of the values of the diols, allowing them to be utilized in chiral sensing. Therefore, the observed enantioselectivities increase in the order organocatalyst < MOF crystals < MOF nanosheets in both catalysis and sensing. This work not only provides a strategy to make 3D layered MOFs and their untrathin nanosheets but also paves the way to utilize nanostructured MOFs to manipulate enantioselectivities of molecular catalysts.

The self‐assembly of highly stable zirconium(IV)‐based coordination cages with aggregation induced emission (AIE) molecular rotors for in vitro bio‐imaging is reported. The two coordination cages, NUS‐100 and NUS‐101, are assembled from the highly stable trinuclear zirconium vertices and two flexible carboxyl‐decorated tetraphenylethylene (TPE) spacers. Extensive experimental and theoretical results show that the emissive intensity of the coordination cages can be controlled by restricting the dynamics of AIE‐active molecular rotors though multiple external stimuli. Because the two coordination cages have excellent chemical stability in aqueous solutions (pH stability: 2–10) and impressive AIE characteristics contributed by the molecular rotors, they can be employed as novel biological fluorescent probes for in vitro live‐cell imaging.

Separation of racemic mixtures is of great importance and interest in chemistry and pharmacology. Porous materials including metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have been widely explored as chiral stationary phases (CSPs) in chiral resolution. However, it remains a challenge to develop new CSPs for reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), which is the most popular chromatographic mode and accounts for over 90% of all separations. Here we demonstrated for the first time that highly stable Zr-based MOFs can be efficient CSPs for RP-HPLC. By elaborately designing and synthesizing three tetracarboxylate ligands of enantiopure 1,1′-biphenyl-20-crown-6, we prepared three chiral porous Zr­(IV)-MOFs with the framework formula [Zr6O4(OH)8(H2O)4(L)2]. They share the same flu topological structure but channels of different sizes and display excellent tolerance to water, acid, and base. Chiral crown ether moieties are periodically aligned within the framework channels, allowing for stereoselective recognition of guest molecules via supramolecular interactions. Under acidic aqueous eluent conditions, the Zr-MOF-packed HPLC columns provide high resolution, selectivity, and durability for the separation of a variety of model racemates, including unprotected and protected amino acids and N-containing drugs, which are comparable to or even superior to several commercial chiral columns for HPLC separation. DFT calculations suggest that the Zr-MOF provides a confined microenvironment for chiral crown ethers that dictates the separation selectivity.