Photoactive donor-acceptor conjugated macrocycles: New opportunities for supramolecular chemistry

The design and synthesis of photoactive macrocyclic molecules continue to attract attention because such species play important roles in supramolecular chemistry as well as photoelectronic applications. Donor-acceptor (D-A) conjugated macrocycles are an emerging class of photoactive molecules due to their D-A conjugated structural characteristics and tunable optical properties. In addition, the well-defined cavities in such D-A macrocycles endow them with versatile host-guest properties. In this review, we provide a comprehensive summary of D-A conjugated macrocycle chemistry, detailing recent progress in the area of synthetic methods, optical properties, host-guest chemistry and applications of the underlying chemistry to chemical sensors, bioimaging and photoelectronic devices. Our objective is to provide not only a review of the fundamental findings, but also to outline future research directions where D-A conjugated macrocycles and their constructs may have a role to play.