Retrospective review on reticular materials: facts and figures over the last 30 years

The field of reticular materials, such as metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs), is expanding continuously – be it in terms of novel structures, advanced characterization techniques, or record-breaking physical properties for applications. This timeline review reflects on the progress over the past 30 years, complemented by input from the community of active researchers. Owing to a global, crowdsourced survey of 228 researchers that is conducted through an online questionnaire, recent insights into the demographics of the field are given. Besides revealing how it works, publish, and interact, the review highlights both academic and industrial milestones. The contemporary trends are described, both at the level of material development and their suitability for a range of applications. To pave the way for newcomers to the field, some remaining challenges and steps to overcome them are discussed. The findings from this contemplative review aim to shape the future course of research in this domain.