New insights into coordination-cage based catalysis

This review article summarises work from the author's group on catalysis using coordination cages over the (approximate) period 2018-2024. Recent insights discussed include (i) the general mechanism of catalysis, which involves co-location of reaction partners using orthogonal interactions involving the cage cavity (neutral hydrophobic substrates) and the surface anion-based reaction partners; (ii) the role of the cage exterior surface in facilitating catalysis in some cases; (iii) quantitative analysis of anion-binding to the cage surface, as a complement to measurement of binding constants of neutral guests inside the cavity; (iv) a new type of redox-based catalysis using reactive oxygen species, which are generated by reaction of oxidants such as H₂O₂ and HSO₅^- with Co(II)/Co(III) redox couples in the cage superstructure. Collectively the results discussed provide signficant new possibilities for further exploration of catalysis using supramolecular assemblies.