Host-guest chemistry metal-templated self-assembly

Complementarity between different molecules has also been harnessed in the pursuit of capsular complexes. Schrader and Kraft have pioneered the design of complementary systems with three- and fourfold symmetry based on 1,3,5-tris(aminomethyl)benzene derivatives [18] and calix[4]arenes [19], respectively. This approach has also been taken by Reinhoudt whose vast output of calixarene chemistry includes work on calix[4]arene dimers held together by ionic interactions [20]. Other examples show how the presence of encapsulated guests templates the formation of self-complementary capsules [21], how two host molecules may be held together by metal coordination [22-24] or where hydrogen bonding by a second entity holds the assembly together [25,26],... 

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