Metal-containing molecular rectangles: synthesis and photophysical properties

This article reviews recent progress in our understanding of molecular rectangles and rectangular boxes. The synthesis of macrocycles that contain nitrogen-, oxygen-, sulphur- and phosphorus-bridged ligands is described. Synthetic routes for the preparation of the metallomacromolecules including stepwise and self-assembly strategies as well as their photophysical and molecular recognition properties are discussed. Preliminary applications of such compounds as chemical sensing devices are also briefly reviewed. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.