Uniform porous nanospheres of discrete shape-persistent organic cage compoundsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Synthetic procedures, full characterization and nitrogen sorption measurements for compounds 3ce. See DOI: 10.1039/c2jm16051j

By mixing solutions of the reactants for shape-persistent cage compounds in a binary solvent mixture, spheres in the nanometre regime with controlled sizes can be generated, which show permanent porosities. By choosing binary solvent mixtures, porous uniform nano-sized balls, consisting of organic cages compounds, are accessible.