ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the advanced research on Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) in the biomedical and pharmaceutical sectors and discusses the challenges and opportunities regarding COFs in terms of biomedical purposes. COFs are crystalline porous polymers with periodic skeletons and large surface areas. COFs were developed for diagnoses and treatment since they exhibit many excellent properties, including stimuli responsiveness, biodegradability, high surface areas, large pore volumes, tunable pore structures, p-conjugated systems, unique photoelectric properties, outstanding modifiability, and so on. Besides the inherent acid sensitivity of boronate- and imine-based COFs, researchers have endowed COFs with more environment-responsive features to control the drug delivery and release. In 2015, R. Banerjee and coworkers reported a series of explorations of imine COFs for drug loading and release. One of the biosensors was designed on the basis of the electrochemical activity of COF films. Besides biomolecules, COFs can also be applied to the detection of monomers and metal ions.
