A captivating challenge in chemistry lies in achieving robust and precise binding of uncharged, hydrophilic carbohydrate entities. Although past decades have provided a variety of excellent molecular architectures tailored for carbohydrate recognition, including acyclic receptors, macrocycles and foldamers, recent advances have highlighted the potential of synthetic molecular cages. These structures are equipped with intricately designed cavities that contain bespoke noncovalent binding sites for carbohydrate interactions. Constructed with the principles of complementarity and preorganization, these cage receptors demonstrate high affinity and exquisite selectivity in carbohydrate recognition through noncovalent interactions, capitalizing on multivalency and cooperativity. This Review highlights recent advances in the design and application of molecular cages with diverse structures, interactions and binding capacities for carbohydrate recognition. In the concluding remarks, we discuss future avenues for further exploration.

化学中一个引人入胜的挑战在于实现不带电荷的亲水性碳水化合物实体的稳健和精确结合。尽管过去几十年已经提供了各种为碳水化合物识别量身定制的优秀分子结构，包括无环受体、大环和折叠体，但最近的进展凸显了合成分子笼的潜力。这些结构配备了设计复杂的空腔，其中包含用于碳水化合物相互作用的定制非共价结合位点。这些笼状受体采用互补性和预组织原则构建，通过非共价相互作用在碳水化合物识别中表现出高亲和力和精细选择性，利用多价性和协同性。本综述重点介绍了具有不同结构、相互作用和结合能力的分子笼的设计和应用的最新进展，用于碳水化合物识别。在总结语中，我们讨论了进一步探索的未来途径。