The cutting edge of lantern-shaped cage methodologies

Lantern-shaped cages are generally comprised of two square planar metal ions linked by four ditopic ligands. They mainly form easily and predictably and make a structure with a small cavity well-suited for host–guest chemistry. These cages have been at the forefront of efforts by chemists to develop strategies for enhanced structural complexity in self-assembled metallo-supramolecular systems, which in the past few years have reached new heights. This review looks at the techniques employed to garner this complexity, with focus on the latest examples and the most recently developed methodologies.