Designed Synthesis of Covalent Organic Multicycles

Covalent organic multicycles (COMs) have been designed and synthesized via the covalent assembly of rigid three-arm Y-shaped and U-shaped building blocks. These COMs have a precise tricyclic structure and exhibit remarkable solubility in a range of common solvents. Featuring well-defined cavities with electron-rich structures, these COMs displayed good adsorption capabilities for iodine in both its vapor and liquid states. Moreover, the solution processability allows for the facile fabrication of these COMs as uniform films on different substrates via the spin coating methods.