Novel triptycene-derived hosts: synthesis and their applications in supramolecular chemistry

The development of new classes of macrocyclic hosts has always been one of the most important topics in supramolecular chemistry. During the past several years, based on the triptycene with unique three-dimensional rigid structure, several different kinds of novel triptycene-derived hosts including triptycene-derived cylindrical macrotricyclic polyether, triptycene-derived tris(crown ether)s, triptycene-derived molecular tweezers, triptycene-derived calixarenes, triptycene-derived heterocalixarenes, triptycene-derived tetralactam macrocycles and molecular cage have been designed and synthesized. Then, by exploring the applications of some of the triptycene derived hosts in molecular recognition and molecular assemblies, a series of new supramolecular systems with specific structures and properties have been developed. This feature article highlights our recent advances in the synthesis of triptycene-derived hosts and their applications in supramolecular chemistry.