Cyclophane chemistry and the research targets in this area have changed over the past two decades. While the unique electronic and structural properties of cyclophanes are still fascinating, more and more attention is now being paid to the function of the molecules, e.g., to the formation of inclusion complexes of large cyclophanes or the use of chiral cyclophanes as auxiliars in asymmetric synthesis. The rigid structures of short bridge cyclophanes has stimulated the synthesis of compounds with extended p-systems. Both their interesting physical properties, e.g., in intramolecular electron transfer processes, and their often beautiful structures of high symmetry are alluring.While synthetic approaches to cyclophanes, their reactivity and inclusion ability have been reviewed extensively, applications of the cyclophane scaffold and its properties are scattered. Therefore the author will focus on the recent developments in the chemistry of cyclophanes that have been used as building blocks for functional devices, as ligands for metal coordination and chiral auxiliaries or chiral ligands in synthesis. It will show that a class of compounds considered esoteric 20 years ago is now even reaching industrial applications. A review with 60 schemes and 122 references.