Chemical chainmail constructed from interlocked coordination polymers

Interlocked molecules have entered a new dimension. Researchers have synthesised an ‘infinite three-dimensional catenane’ by constructing concatenated covalent-organic frameworks (COFs). This chemical chainmail is extraordinarily flexible and resilient, which could lead to applications in materials science and synthetic biology.

‘Chemists have always thrived on controlling atoms and molecules to create larger structures with new properties,’ says lead author Omar Yaghi, from the University of California Berkeley. ‘This is the first example of a three-dimensional interlocked COF structure,’ he says. The perfect crystalline structure of the material means the interlocking is homogeneous and uninterrupted throughout the network. ‘On a molecular level, molecular interlocking allows many degrees of freedom, a mechanism to dissipate energy such as external stress,’ continues Yaghi. Therefore, the COF chemical chainmail exhibits extreme flexibility, yet it’s almost unbreakable.