Thiophene-based covalent organic frameworks for highly efficient iodine capture

Development of adsorbent materials for highly efficient iodine capture is high demand from the perspective of ecological environment and human health. Herein, the two kinds of thiophene-based covalent organic frameworks(COFs) with different morphologies were synthesized by solvothermal reaction using thieno[3,2-b]thiophene-2,5-dicarbaldehyde(TT) as the aldehyde monomer and tri(4-aminophenyl)benzene(PB) or tris(4-aminophenyl)amine(PA) as the amino monomer(denoted as PB-TT COF and PA-TT COF) and the as-prepared two heteroatoms-rich COFs possessed many excellent properties,including high thermal stability and abundant binding sites. Among them, PB-TT COF exhibited ultra-high iodine uptake up to 5.97 g/g in vapor, surpassing most of adsorbents previously reported, which was ascribed to its high specific surface(1305.3 m2/g). Interestingly, PA-TT COF with low specific surface(48.6m2/g) showed good adsorption ability for iodine in cyclohexane solution with uptake value of 750 mg/g,which was 2.38 times higher than that obtained with PB-TT COF due to its unique sheet-like morphology.Besides, the two COFs possessed good reusability, high selectivity and iodine retention ability. Based on experimental results, the adsorption mechanisms of both COFs were studied, revealing that iodine was captured by the physical-chemical adsorption. Furthermore, the both COFs showed excellent adsorption ability in real radioactive seawater treated safely, demonstrating their great potential in real environment.

Synthesis, two-photon absorption and AIE properties of multibranched thiophene-based triphenylamine derivatives with triazine core

Two new multibranched thiophene-based triarylamine derivatives with 1,3,5-triazine core are synthesized and characterized. Their one-and two-photon absorption properties and aggregation-induced emission effect have been investigated. Both the STAPA-based compounds are AIE active. The two-photon absorption (2PA) cross sections measured by the open aperture Z-scan technique are determined to be 620 and 1610 GM for STAPA-a and STAPA-b in chloroform,respectively, which dramatically increase with the introduction of alkyl chains. The relationship between their structures and properties on one-and two-photon absorption and aggregation-induced emission is discussed, which allows us to examine the effect of introducing alkyl chains. In addition, solvent effects also show a significant influence on the 2PA cross section. The two compounds with excellent AIE and 2PA properties provide attractive alternatives for the biophotonic materials.