Resorcinarene-​based cavitands as building blocks for crystal engineering

A review. Since their first appearance in the chem. scene thirty years ago, resorcinarene-​based cavitands have been recognized to be a highly versatile class of compds. Endowed with a rigid cavity of mol. dimensions, which can be decorated at the upper and lower rims with a variety of functional groups, they are efficient mol. receptors for chem. sensing, as well as tunable building blocks in the formation of covalent and supramol. architectures. In this paper, we highlight and discuss "classic" and recent results concerning their chem., applications and crystal structure