Frontiers in design and applications of biomacromolecule@COFs composites

Biomacromolecules with complex structures, are important components of living things. Due to the sensitivity of biomacromolecules to various influencing factors like temperature, acid/alkali, or organic solvent, they would be easily deactivated under various related conditions during the applications. It is necessary to exploit immobilization materials for biomacromolecules to achieve low deactivation rate, high stability and advanced functions. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) exhibit high porosity, tunable function and biocompatibility, making them to be excellent host materials for immobilizing biomacromolecules. Up to date, the related works about the immobilization of biomacromolecules by COFs have been reported continuously and some reviews have also separately summarized the loading of biomacromolecules like enzyme or nucleic acid into COFs. However, the systematic reviews about the fixation of various biomacromolecules (e.g., enzymes, proteins, peptides, and nucleic acids) in COFs to discuss their differences are still rare. A comprehensive review would be demanded to summarize their varied properties like sizes, types, or functions of biomacromolecules in interaction with COFs, as well as their synergistically integrated effects on various applications. In this review, we will systematically summarize the recent research progress about different biomacromolecule@COFs and their related applications. We will also discuss the challenges or bottlenecks faced by biomacromolecule@COFs and give perspectives of COFs in this field. We hope this review could provide new insights for scientists in this field.