Research Progress on Design and Assembly of Functional Hydrogen-bond Organic Frameworks

Hydrogen-bonded organic framework materials (HOFs), self-assembled from pre-defined molecularmodulesby hydrogen bonding, are rapidly developed into a new class of porous crystallinematerials. In addition to sharing characteristics with other porous crystalline materials, HOFs have unique advantages withsimple purification, high crystallinity, solution handlability and ease of regeneration. However, the weaker hydrogen bond interactions in HOFs affect their stability, which in turn restricts their application. In this review, four assembly strategies for the construction of HOFs with good stability and permanent porosity are concluded, and their applications in gas adsorption and separation, chiral separation, sensing, proton conduction, and catalysis are also reviewed. Meanwhile, the molecular design and functional application are prospected. In the future, HOFs with large surface area and high stability can be constructed by increasing the interaction between the guest molecule and building block, introducing hydrophobic fluorinated groups, selecting rigid building blocks and establishing multiple hydrogen bonding sites. Moreover, further research endeavors will be focused on their practical applications in biomimetic enzymes, energy catalysis, next generation surface materials, porous coatings for functional textiles and other new fields.