Recent advances in the construction and applications of heterometallic macrocycles and cages

Discrete supramolecular constructs continue to attract strong research interest because of their myriad applications. Most of the work in this area has been performed with a single type of metal atom or ion and one or two organic ligands, but considerable success has also been achieved by employing heterometallic systems. The focus of this review is on recent developments in the area of discrete heterometallic architectures. The two main synthetic strategies towards these metallamacrocycles and metallacages are discussed, and special attention is given to molecular structures with special shapes and functions, such as catalysts, host-guest properties and others.