FURI | Spring 2022

Covalent-Organic-Framework Polymerization and its Crystallinity

Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs) are a new class of crystalline and porous polymers constructed by covalently linking organic monomers into 2D or 3D ordered networks. Due to their high surface-area-to-volume ratio, tunable pore size, and controllable chemical reactivity, COFs offer unique functionality for molecular separation, sieving, and catalysis applications. Imine-linked COFs are particularly attractive owing to their structural versatility and solution stability. This research project aims to synthesize these imine-linked COFs and characterize them under different growth parameters (temperature, catalyst concentration, etc.) using in-situ Raman Spectroscopy, X-Ray Diffraction, and Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy, thereby gaining insight into the kinetics of crystallization.