2007/12/30: 2007 Chemistry Highlights This year's selections include numerous advances in structural analysis "Also this year 3-D covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with remarkable properties were designed and synthesized for the first time by Omar M. Yaghi of UCLA and coworkers (Science 2007, 316, 268). The materials are constructed of light elements such as carbon, boron, and oxygen. They are stable at temperatures above 450 °C, their surface areas are among the highest known for any materials, and they have extremely low densities. In fact, one member of the new family, called COF-108, has a density of 0.17 g/cm3, making it one of the lowest-density crystals known. Yaghi says he believes the materials will have a major impact "on the synthesis of extended structures by design and, in the short term, on the storage and separation of gases." Link |
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