A Photoresponsive Surface Covalent Organic Framework: Surface-Confined Synthesis, Isomerization, and Controlled Guest Capture and Release

By introducing an azobenzene group to the backbone of diboronic acid, we have obtained a surface-confined, photoresponsive single-layer covalent organic framework with long-range order and almost entire surface coverage. Scanning tunneling microscopic characterization indicates that though the covalent linkage provides a significant locking effect, isomerization can still happen under UV irradiation, which causes destruction of the surface COF. Furthermore, the decomposed surface COF can recover upon annealing. This photoinduced decomposition provides a facile approach for the controlled capture and release of targeted objects using these nanoporous surface COFs as a host, which has been demonstrated in this work using copper phthalocyanine as a model guest.