Recently, Prof. Wang Yong’s team from the School of Energy and Environment, SEU, and the Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Functional Polymers 

published a research paper titled “Electron Donor-Acceptor Interactions Enabling Aqueous Synthesis of Covalent Organic Frameworks with Unprecedented 

Crystallinity and Porosity for Water Extraction from Arid Air”, in the international journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs) are a class of crystalline porous materials formed by covalent bonding and have immense application potential in energy conversion 

and environmental catalysis. However, the synthesis of COFs typically relies on complex organic-solvent systems. Meanwhile, achieving direct synthesis of highly crystalline, 

long-range-ordered COFs in water remains a significant challenge due to kinetic barriers and the poor water solubility of monomer.

In this work, starting from the electron-transfer properties between monomers and catalyst molecules, the research team constructed a series of electron donor-acceptor 

(EDA) complex intermediates that possess both high water solubility and strong reaction activity. Based on the principles of dynamic covalent chemistry, they designed and 

synthesized a series of COFs with different linkages. Thanks to the high reversibility of the reactions, the prepared COFs all exhibited excellent crystallinity and ultra-high 

specific surface area, far surpassing products from organic solvent systems. The EDA-mediated aqueous synthesis strategy for COFs, because of the homogeneity of the 

reaction system, demonstrated promising scalability. While maintaining crystallinity and pore structure, it enabled the single-batch, gram-scale production of COFs. These 

upscaled COFs showed excellent water vapor adsorption/desorption kinetics. Under natural sunlight conditions, they successfully achieved continuous water production 

over multiple days, offering a sustainable technological solution for addressing freshwater shortages in arid regions. The EDA complexation strategy has not only overcome 

the long-standing challenge of  crystallizing “COFs in water” but also achieved breakthroughs in both structure and performance through molecular-level electron transfer 

interactions. It represents a new paradigm integrating green chemistry, functional materials, and environmental applications.

SEU doctoral student Gao Jinglin and Zhishan Postdoctoral Fellow Yin Congcong, from the School of Energy and Environment, SEU, are the co-first authors of this paper. 

Prof. Wang Yong is the corresponding author, and SEU is the sole corresponding institution. This research was supported by projects including the National Natural Science 

Foundation of China and the Jiangsu Provincial Natural Science Foundation, and other related programs.

Source: School of Energy and Environment, SEU

Translated by: Melody Zhang

Proofread by: Gao Min

Edited by: Li Xinchang