Flexible-Ligand-Based Self-adaptive Metal-Organic Material for Supramolecular Selective Recognition of Similar Natural Molecules.

A flexible-ligand-based metal-organic cage containing functional amide and secondary amino groups as guest-interacted sites has been synthesized. The synergistic effect between the size-defined cavity and self-adaptive backbone endows the cage excellent properties for the selective recognition of specific natural guests over other similar molecules via fluorescent response.