Two 2D wavy hexagonal hexahydroxyl cyclotricatechylene (CTC) based COFs, CTC-COF-2 and CTC-COF-3 were synthesized through solvothermal reaction. The bowl-shaped conformation caused CTC skeletons packed in a columnar manner with the same oriented units, thus forming an undulated structure. The gas adsorption properties of CTC-COFs were investigated, which show the potential application abilities in hydrogen storage of CTC-COFs. The introduction of pyrene into CTC-COF-3 makes it a potential semiconducting π-conjugated material.

Five organic complexes are prepared by cocrystallization of tri-[(N-methyl-2-imidazoly)methoxy]cyclotriguiacylene (TMIM-CTG) with corresponding acids. While hydrogen bonds are the basic interactions in the five complexes, the homo-included motifs with CH···π interactions also control the molecular arrangement except for complex 5. In complex 1, the two dimensional networks contain 1D zigzag chains formed by hydrogen bonding and 1D chains of homo-included CTG motifs. Complex 2 has 2D 4·8² hydrogen bonding networks, and the chains of homomeric inclusion extend the 2D structure to a 3D framework. Complex 3 contains four-membered rings through hydrogen bonds, and the chains of homo-inclusion link the rings to a novel 2D network. In complex 4, hydrogen bonds construct a novel double-layer 2D network, which is extended to a 3D framework by "hand-shake" dimeric homomeric inclusion interactions. Interestingly, there is no homomeric inclusion phenomenon in complex 5 and hydrogen bonds solely connect two components to a chiral (6,3) 2D network.

Two rigid macrocyclic CTV-based porous organic polymers, Click-POP-1 and Click-POP-2, have been synthesized by Click reaction of a cyclotriveratrylene analogue with alkyne groups and aromatic azides in one pot. FTIR, solid ¹³C NMR and elemental analysis confirmed the formation of the polymers. Both of them possess high thermo-stability which is up to 410 and 900°C, respectively, and moderate hydrogen storage properties with 0.46 wt% at 77 K. Their nitrogen uptake showed type-I isotherm with BET surface areas up to 342 and 317 m²·g⁻¹.

Macrocyclic CTV-Br₃ reacted with the linear benzene-1,4-diboronic acid and 1,4-diethynylbenzene via Suzuki and Sonogashira-Hagihara coupling reactions producing the rigid porous materials CTV-CMP-1 and CTV-CMP-2. The porous materials have good thermal and chemical stability. The Brunauer-Emmet-Teller specific surface areas of CTV-CMP-1 and CTV-CMP-2 are 314 and 218 cm²·g⁻¹, respectively. Physical properties of the porous materials were investigated, CTV-CMP-1 showed moderate hydrogen adsorption about 0.81 wt% at 1.13 bar while CTV-CMP-2 showed lower hydrogen adsorption about 0.51 wt%. These materials are analogs to activated carbons which could be potentially used in gas separation and organic compound adsorption.

Various functionalized host molecules and building blocks can be derived from the cone-shaped cyclotriveratrylene (CTV). In this article, we report on the synthesis of CTV-I₃ derivatives 3a and 3b and their Sonogashira cross-coupling with various terminal aryl-alkynes, to synthesize CTV-phenylacetylene derivatives in moderate to good yields. In this way, three star-like conjugated dendrimers with rigid macrocyclic cores 4k–m, which showed good photophysical properties, were also synthesized. The band gaps of 4k–m are 3.49, 3.49 and 3.45 eV, and the fluorescence quantum yields are 0.64, 0.78, 0.48 (2-aminopyridine as a standard and excited at 310 nm), respectively. Electrochemical studies revealed their HOMO and LUMO energy levels. Our research disclosed that these CTV dendrimers could potentially be used as host materials in OLEDs.