Design and synthesis of capped-paddlewheel-based porous coordination cages

To leverage the structural diversity of metal-organic frameworks, the ability to controllably terminate them for the isolation of porous coordination cages is advantageous. However, the strategy has largely been limited to ligand termination methods, particularly for paddlewheel-based materials. Here, we show a paddlewheel-capping strategy can be employed to afford previously unattainable coordination cage structures that are mimetic of metal-organic framework pores. A novel cluster capping strategy is employed to leverage the structural diversity of metal-organic cages toward the isolation of porous cages.