Porous coordination cages (PCCs) are discrete nanoscopic structures with intrinsic cavities. The solubility and tunable host-guest interactions allow PCCs to form a homogeneous catalytic platform. Through engineering the interactions between the host PCC and the guest nanoparticles, we succeeded in encapsulating ruthenium nanoparticles in PCCs and tuning their crystalline form to a highly reactive face-centered-cubic one. The nanoparticles within the PCC showed extraordinary reactivity toward the dehydrogenation reaction. This approach sheds light on developing high-performance catalysts through interaction engineering.

An anionic coordination cage encapsulates the catalyst and the substrate within its cavity, circumvent the charge repulsion, thus promotes the activity in the photocatalysis.

Nonanuclear Ni(ii) complexes, [Ni(Ln)(OH)(HO)] (NiLn, n = 1-4; HLn = 6-acetoacetyl-2-pyridinecarboxylic acid derivatives), were prepared via self-assembly using the asymmetric multidentate ligands HLn. A corner-sharing tetrahedron-type structure, [Ni(μ-OH)], and terminal mononuclear units constitute the nonanuclear structure in a [1-7-1] formation. The electrochemical and magnetic properties of NiLn were modulated by the introduction of various substituents in HLn.

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