Abstract: As a possible building block of new functional materials, organic small molecule radicals can be combined with coordination polymers to prepare a variety of crystalline materials with special functions. To regulate the activity and properties of radicals in the coordination polymers is of theoretical significance and application value. In this paper, a variety of long-lived radical species existed stably in coordination polymers were introduced firstly, including viologen derivatives, aromatic imide derivatives, nitrogen oxygen small molecule radicals and so on. Existing as main skeleton, side group or guest in the coordination polymer matrix, these radical species were analyzed for the possible stability reasons in coordination polymers. And then, their potential applications in smart windows, sensors, photothermal therapy and catalysis were briefly introduced. Finally, the challenges and shortcomings in this field were summarized for future research.