Picking the lock of coordination cage catalysis
a
Vicente
Martí-Centelles,
b
Rebecca L.
Spicer,
c
Fernanda
Duarte
*a
and
Paul J.
Lusby
*d
Abstract
The design principles of metallo-organic assembly reactions have facilitated access to hundreds of coordination cages of varying size and shape. Many of these assemblies possess a well-defined cavity capable of hosting a guest, pictorially mimicking the action of a substrate binding to the active site of an enzyme. While there are now a growing collection of coordination cages that show highly proficient catalysis, exhibiting both excellent activity and efficient turnover, this number is still small compared to the vast library of metal–organic structures that are known. In this review, we will attempt to unpick and discuss the key features that make an effective coordination cage catalyst, linking structure to activity (and selectivity) using lessons learnt from both experimental and computational analysis of the most notable exemplars. We will also provide an outlook for this area, reasoning why coordination cages have the potential to become the gold-standard in (synthetic) non-covalent catalysis.
- This article is part of the themed collections: Most popular 2023 polymer and supramolecular chemistry articles, 2023 Chemical Science Perspective & Review Collection, 2023 Chemical Science HOT Article Collection and 2023 ChemSci Pick of the Week Collection
Please wait while we load your content...
