This account provides an overview of the photochemical properties of cyclophanes possessing nitrogen atoms in the bridge chains, namely 2,11-diaza[3 2 ]anthracenoparacyclophane and 2,11-diaza[3 2 ]paracyclophane systems. Although the photoreactions of aromatic molecules that are bound by a linker or fixed in a cyclophane structure have been widely investigated, much less attention has been paid to the photochemistry of aromatic rings incorporated in a nitrogen-bridged cyclophane. During the course of our work on the photoreactions of cyclophanes possessing nitrogen atoms in their bridge chains, the nitrogen-bridged cyclophanes were found to display photoproperties significantly different from those of the nonbridged aromatic chromophores or the corresponding carbonbridged cyclophane analogues. The 2,11-diaza[3 2 ]anthracenoparacyclophane system displayed an efficient photochemical cycloaddition-adiabatic cycloreversion cycle in the excited singlet state, while in the triplet state, the photoisomer underwent a novel rearrangement and adiabatic cycloreversion. Upon photolysis of the 2,11-diaza[3 2 ]paracyclophane system, an octahedrane cage was formed. This is the first reported octahedrane formation to occur by the photochemical dimerization of benzene. Thus, the title cyclophane systems display a variety of photoprocesses involving cycloaddition, adiabatic cycloreversion accompanied by photoinduced chemiluminescence, novel rearrangements, and previously unknown benzene dimerization.