Template and Solid-State-Assisted Assembly of an ML Expanded Coordination Cage for Medium-Sized Molecule Encapsulation.

The ML cage, self-assembling from six Pd(II) or Pt(II) 90-degree blocks and four triazine-cored triangular ligands, has an effective hydrophobic cavity of about 450 Å capable of encapsulating one or more small molecules. Here, from the same components, we successfully constructed an ML cage with an internal volume expanded to 1540 Å via the self-assembly of an ML precursor using pillar[5]arene as a template. This cage retains the high molecular recognition ability of the ML cage while recognizing medium-sized guest molecules with molecular weights of up to ∼1600.