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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Maria Koyioni

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Chemistry, University of Cyprus, Panepistimiou Avenue, 2109 Aglantzia, Nicosia, Cyprus
Interests: organic synthesis; heterocyclic chemistry; sulfur chemistry; dithiazoles; alkaloids

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Symmetry is a fundamental concept in sciences. In chemistry, symmetry can be found everywhere, including at the atomic, molecular, and supramolecular level. It is used in molecular spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, in the mechanistic interpretation of chemical reactions, and other processes.

From the standpoint of synthetic organic chemists, symmetrical molecules (organic compounds with a plane, center, or alternating axis of symmetry) play a pivotal role in the development of new materials. Porphyrins, prophyrazines and phthalocyanines, extended acenes and heteroacenes, dimeric and oligomeric (hetero)cyclic compounds, BODIPYs, fullerenes, dendrimers, and metal–organic complexes/frameworks, to name but few, are symmetrical compounds which have outstanding properties and find applications in diverse areas, both in materials and pharmaceutical sciences.

This Special Issue is dedicated on the synthesis and/or properties of such symmetrical organic molecules and we invite you to submit your contributions.

Dr. Maria Koyioni
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Symmetry is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

molecular symmetry
plane of symmetry
organic compounds
organic synthesis
dimers
trimers
tetramers
heterocycles
complexes
supramolecular

Published Papers (1 paper)

Review

16 pages, 5480 KiB

Open AccessReview

Triptycene Based 3D Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs)—An Emerging Class of 3D Structures

by Monika Borkowska and Radosław Mrówczyński

Symmetry 2023, 15(9), 1803; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/sym15091803 - 21 Sep 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1324

Abstract

Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs) are a newly emerged class of porous materials consisting of organic building blocks linked by strong covalent bonds. The physical and chemical properties of COFs, i.e., modularity, porosity, well-developed specific surface area, crystallinity, and chemical-thermal stability, make them a good application material, especially in the aspects of adsorption and gas separation. The organic compositions of their building blocks also render them with biocompatible properties; therefore, they also have potential in biomedical applications. Depending on the symmetry of the building blocks, COF materials form two-dimensional (2D COF) or three-dimensional (3D COF) crystal structures. 3D COF structures have a higher specific surface area, they are much lighter due to their low density, and they have a larger volume than 2D COF crystals, but, unlike the latter, 3D COF crystals are less frequently obtained and studied. Selecting and obtaining suitable building blocks to form a stable 3D COF crystal structure is challenging and therefore of interest to the chemical community. Triptycene, due to its 3D structure, is a versatile building block for the synthesis of 3D COFs. Polymeric materials containing triptycene fragments show good thermal stability parameters and have a very well-developed surface area. They often tend to be characterized by more than one type of porosity and exhibit impressive gas adsorption properties. The introduction of a triptycene backbone into the structure of 3D COFs is a relatively new procedure, the results of which only began to be published in 2020. Triptycene-based 3D COFs show interesting physicochemical properties, i.e., high physical stability and high specific surface area. In addition, they have variable porosities with different pore diameters, capable of adsorbing both gases and large biological molecules. These promising parameters, guaranteed by the addition of a triptycene backbone to the 3D structure of COFs, may create new opportunities for the application of such materials in many industrial and biomedical areas. This review aims to draw attention to the symmetry of the building blocks used for COF synthesis. In particular, we discussed triptycene as a building block for the synthesis of 3D COFs and we present the latest results in this area. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Symmetry in Organic Chemistry: Synthesis and Properties of Symmetrical Organic Compounds)

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