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A carboxylated leaning tower[6]arene sodium salt is used as an efficient stabiliser for the one-pot synthesis of silver nanoparticles. The resulting hybrid material with good dispersion, excellent stability and narrow size distribution could serve as a multifunctional platform for sensing and catalysis applications.

This review discusses the design and syntheses of molecular-scale pillar[n]arene-based porous materials with promising applications and summarises the development of using pillar[n]arenes as the building blocks of porous materials. From the perspective of 'role of participation' in the syntheses of molecular-scale pillar[n]arene-based porous materials, the content can be divided into pillar[n]arenes serving as supramolecular nanovalves on surfaces and as ligands for metal-organic frameworks and covalent organic polymers. By integrating pillararenes, which possess rigid pillar-like structures, electron-rich cavities and desirable host-guest properties, with porous polymers of large surface areas and abundant active sites, applications of the resulting materials in drug release platforms, molecular recognition, sensing, detection, gas adsorption, removal of water pollution, organic photovoltaic materials and heterogeneous catalysis can be realised simultaneously and efficiently. Finally, in the conclusion and prospect part, we put forward the challenges and viewpoints of the current research on pillar[n]arene-based porous materials. We hope this article can provide a timely and valuable reference for researchers interested in synthetic macrocycles and porous materials.

Construction of large multi-component coordination cages becomes much more challenging as the number of building blocks increases. A giant hexameric calix[4]resorcinarene-based coordination cage (cage-1) was successfully designed through the precise tuning of ancillary rigid tetracarboxylic acid. Significantly, cage-1 exhibited reversible uptake of volatile iodine, suggesting that it could serve as a porous material for efficient capture and separation of radioactive iodine.

A bean-shaped and dual-functionalized organic-inorganic hybrid supramolecular system with a GSH-dependent turn-on fluorescence enhancement property and stimuli-responsive drug delivery function endowed with leaning towerarene-based switches has been constructed for simultaneous tumor inhibition and imaging.

A heteroatom-doped conjugated polymer with tunable bandgap is synthesized using pillararenes as the electron-rich C2 symmetric nodes and thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole as the electron-deficient linkage. The influence of pillararenes in regulating the band structure and photogenerated charge carrier transportation for photocatalytic environmental contaminant degradation has been revealed.

Pillar[n]arenes are a new class of synthetic supramolecular macrocycles streamlined by their particular pillar-shaped architecture which consists of an electron-rich cavity and two fine-tuneable rims. The ease and diversity of the functionalization of the two rims open possibilities for the design of new architectures, topological isomers, and scaffolds. Significantly, this emerging class of macrocyclic receptors offers a unique platform for biological purposes. This review article covers the most recent contributions from the pillar[n]arene field in terms of artificial membrane transport systems, controlled drug delivery systems, biomedical imaging, biosensors, cell adhesion, fluorescent sensing, and pesticide detection based on host-guest interactions. The review also uniquely describes the properties of sub-units that make pillar[n]arenes suitable for biological applications and it provides a detailed outline for the design of new innovative pillar-like structures with specific properties to open up a new avenue for pillar[n]arene chemistry.

We report the high hydrocarbon storage capacity and adsorption selectivity of two low-density pillar[n]arene-based SOFs. Our study would open new perspectives in the development of pillar[n]arene-based SOFs and study of their great potential in gas-storage and gas-separation applications.

We report a quantitative synthetic strategy of a [1]rotaxane from a representative pseudo[1]rotaxane. The structure of the [1]rotaxane was characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, 2D NMR, mass spectroscopy, and melting point, and its optimized geometry in CHCl3 by theoretical calculation at the B3LYP/6-31G(D) level using the PCM model matched well with 2D NOESY. This [1]rotaxane proves to be a good catalyst for the Knoevenagel reaction in CHCl3, which follows second order kinetics.

Polymeric vesicles constructed from cyclodextrin- and azobenzene-grafted poly(glycidyl methacrylate)s showed excellent stability owing to the multiple host-guest complexation. Upon culturing in Na2S2O4-contained buffer solution, cargo-loaded vesicles disassembled, for potential applications in colon-specific drug delivery.

Ditopic pillarene-based fluorescence enhancement material induced by [c2]daisy chain formation has been successfully fabricated. The highly fluorescent smart material exhibits great adaptivity and can act as a multi-responsive supramolecular sensor.

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have been surface-functionalized with choline moieties encircled by sulfonatocalix[4]arenes. Two enzyme cleavable sites are incorporated in the stalks for specific enzymes to regulate the release of loaded cargos from MSNs. These gated materials show a clear enzymatic response and proven orthogonality.

Gold particles are modified with surface-attached bis(beta-cyclodextrin)s bearing S-S bridges to give water-soluble cyclodextrin-modified gold nanoparticles, which are successfully used as recycling extractors for [60]fullerene.