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  • Review Article
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Porous organic cages: soluble, modular and molecular pores

Nature Reviews Materials volume 1, Article number: 16053 (2016) Cite this article

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Abstract

Porosity is a rare property for molecular materials but, surprisingly, porous solids built from discrete organic cage molecules have emerged as a versatile functional-materials platform. From modest beginnings less than a decade ago, there are now organic cage solids with surface areas that can rival extended metal–organic frameworks. In contrast to network polymers and frameworks, these organic cages are synthesized first and then assembled in the solid state in a separate step. This offers solution-processing options that are not available for insoluble organic and inorganic frameworks. In this Review, we highlight examples of porous organic cages and focus on the unique features that set them apart, such as their molecular solubility, their increased tendency to exhibit polymorphism and the scope for modular co-crystallization.

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Figure 1: A timeline of porous molecules.
Figure 2: A timeline of porous organic cages.
Figure 3: Reversible synthetic routes used for porous cage formation with example cages.
Figure 4: Controlling solid-state porous cage packing.
Figure 5: Modular co-crystallization of porous organic cages.
Figure 6: Crystal structure prediction for porous organic cages.
Figure 7: Selected applications of porous organic cages.

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Acknowledgements

A.I.C. thanks the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/N004884/1) and European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme/ERC Grant Agreement no. 321156 (Robust Organic Tectonics; RobOT) for financial support. T.H. thanks the Royal Society for a University Research Fellowship. The authors thank S. Chong and M. Little for critical input into this manuscript.

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    Tom Hasell & Andrew I. Cooper

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Hasell, T., Cooper, A. Porous organic cages: soluble, modular and molecular pores. Nat Rev Mater 1, 16053 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/natrevmats.2016.53

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