Conical Cavitands as Second
Coordination Spheres and Protecting Environments. Towards Metal-Centred,
Intra-Cavity Reactions
D. Armspach, I. Bagatin, E. Engeldinger, C. Jeunesse, J.
Harrowfield, M. Lejeune, and D. Matt*
Contribution from the Laboratoire de Chimie
Inorganique Moléculaire, UMR 7513 CNRS, Université Louis Pasteur, 1
rue Blaise Pascal, F-67008 Strasbourg, France
(Received 16 November2003, Accepted 23 December
2003)
Metallocavitands are coordination compounds based
on rigidified molecular cavities which possess at least one entry.
Those in which the metal centre is rigidly held above the entrance
are particularly promising for the study of host-guest interactions
between metal-bonded substrates and the internal part of a cavity.
Such systems also open the way to highly selective intra-cavity
reactions. The present review focusses on conical cavities
derived from calixarenes and cyclodextrins and examines their
possible use as second coordination sphere ligands.
Keywords: Metallocavitands, Calixarenes, Cyclodextrins,
Supramolecular catalysis | 
