Yield (engineering)

Organic chemistry

Covalent bond

Combinatorial chemistry

Porosity

Crystallography

Solid-state

Enantioselective synthesis

Engineering

Catalysis

Physical chemistry

Composite material

Chemistry

Quinoline

Materials science

Imine

Covalent organic framework

Crystallinity

Strecker amino acid synthesis

Chemical engineering

Organic synthesis

Journal of the American Chemical Society

Postsynthetic modification (PSM) has been demonstrated to be a powerful method for achieving new covalent organic frameworks (COFs) via single-step or multistep organic functional group transformations on established COF frameworks. PSM, however, might sometimes lead to collapse of the COF framework, decreases in crystallinity, or low postsynthetic yield due to the inherent limit of solid-state synthesis. Herein we report, for the first time, a new synthetic strategy that can generate new COFs via multicomponent one-pot in situ reactions. In total, 12 α-aminonitrile- and quinoline-linked COFs with high crystallinity and permanent porosity are successfully achieved by three-component one-pot in situ Strecker and Povarov reactions under solvothermal conditions in high yields. The obtained COFs feature the same structures as those obtained from the stepwise PSM approach on an established imine-linked COF. This in situ multicomponent assembly strategy, as a synthetic methodology parallel to PSM, might open a new route for constructing COFs that is not possible under PSM conditions.

Construction of Covalent Organic Frameworks via Three-Component One-Pot Strecker and Povarov Reactions