Coronates, spherical containers, bowl-shaped surfaces, porous 1D-, 2D-, 3D-metallo-coordination polymers, and metallodendrimers.

Supramolecular coordination cages and polymers bear exceptional advantages over their organic counterparts. They are available in one-pot reactions and in high yields and display physical properties that are generally inaccessible with organic species. Moreover, their weak, reversible, noncovalent bonding interactions facilitate error checking and self-correction. This review emphasizes the achievements in supramolecular coordination container as well as polymer chemistry initiated by serendipity and their materialization based on rational design. The recognition of similarities in the synthesis of different supramolecular assemblies allows prediction of potential structures in related cases. The combination of detailed symmetry considerations with the basic rules of coordination chemistry has only recently allowed for the design of rational strategies for the construction of a variety of nanosized spherical containers, bowls, 1D-, 2D-, and 3D-coordination polymers with specified size and shape.