Molecular Confinement Effects by Self-Assembled Coordination Cages

When substrates are confined in an isolated cavity, they experience circumstances that are distinctly different from those in a bulk solution. Molecular self-assembly has widened the potential of molecular confinement by offering synthetic cavities on the nanometer-scale and allowing chemists to treat molecular aggregates and larger molecules in the cavities. In this account, we introduce the molecular confinement effects of self-assembled cages as a strategy to discover new or hidden properties and reactivities from the confined substrates in the cages. By confining molecules, the cavity can gather, arrange, fold, compress, and twist the molecules. The molecular confinement thus becomes a powerful strategy to draw new aspects of molecules.