Porous organic molecular materials

Most nanoporous materials with molecular-scale pores are composed of directional covalent or coordination bonds, such as porous metal-organic frameworks and organic network polymers. By contrast, nanoporous materials comprised of discrete organic molecules, between which there are only weak non-covalent interactions, are seldom encountered. Indeed, the majority of organic molecules pack efficiently in the solid state to minimize the void volume, leading to nonporous materials. In recent years, a large number of nanoporous organic molecular materials (crystalline or amorphous) were discovered and their porosity was confirmed by gas adsorption. All of these materials were compiled in this highlight. In addition, advantages of porous organic molecular materials over porous networks are discussed.