Engineering 2D Photo-Reacting COF for Patterning and Drug Delivery

Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs) are 2-dimensional polymers that exhibit rigid and large surface area as well as porous architectures. Currently, COFs are tailored for gas storage applications, drug delivery, catalysis and they are used as filtering membranes for water treatment. It is well documented that at the nano/micro scale, COFs can form multi-layered architecture with respect to the basic molecular building blocks. In this picture, it is possible that the 2D intra-layer and 3D inter-layer interactions of the basic molecular units COFs may dictate the overall efficiency of the aforementioned applications. To understand the dimensionality-function relationship of COFs, we are engineering hybrid 1D-2D organic polymers. This hybrid architecture will allow us to study the propagation of energy/exciton transfer within the resulting materials among other applications such as drug delivery and light-induced nano/micro-patterning. To achieve our objectives, I exploited the photo-reacting properties of two molecular systems: The first system is used to prepare the 2D COF of interest and the other system is used to engineer a 1D crystalline solid. Although I have not tested the energy/exciton propagation with the desired material, I have successfully engineered a 1D crystalline solid and synthesized the expected 2D COFs. Using a combination of synthetic strategies, I prepared and characterized photoreacting tetra-phenyl ketone building block that was used to form the desired polymer. I have also engineered 1D needle-like crystals of bisphenyl cyclopropenone compound. Moreover, the two materials were characterized by optical and electron microscopy methods.;This thesis will detail the synthesis and characterization of all precursors of the basic molecular units that were used to engineer the 1D crystalline solid and 2D COF materials. Condignly, the optical and scanning electron microscopy images highlight the microscale features of the materials of interest. I am certain that this preliminary investigation will pave the way to study the dimensionality of energy/exciton transfer and reaction propagation in the many organic materials.