Metal-containing molecular rectangles: synthesis and photophysical properties

This article reviews recent progress in our understanding of molecular rectangles and rectangular boxes. The synthesis of macrocycles that contain nitrogen-, oxygen-, sulphur- and phosphorus-bridged ligands is described. Synthetic routes for the preparation of the metallomacromolecules including stepwise and self-assembly strategies as well as their photophysical and molecular recognition properties are discussed. Preliminary applications of such compounds as chemical sensing devices are also briefly reviewed.