-The well developed synthetic system for preparation of a highly versatile family of 4ycave ligands has yielded two other very different families of equally interesting ligands.The 4ycave ligands are designed to provide a protected coordination site for such small molecules as CO and 02. The second family of ligands is related to the first by dimerization and the resulting complexes contain two identical metal ions separated by an intramolecular void. An intramolecular tautomerization reaction of the coordinated 4y cave ligand produces a unique family of clathro-chelate structures in which the metal ion is totally encapsulated by a hexadentate ligand, containing azomethine donor groups.The development of the chemistry of complexes with macrocyclic ligands has received continuing impetus from the biochemistry of such macrocycle-containing systems as heme proteins, vitamin B12 and siderophores and ionophores. Our interest in mimicking the various functions of the heme proteins has been further stimulated by the compelling potential applications of controlled oxidation reactions of organic molecules. Studies in a number of laboratories on substituted porphyrins have clearly shown that appended structural components (superstructure) can serve, in place of the protein, to control the chemistry at the active site in the heme protein. We have recently reported (1) a very promising new series of bicyclic 4y cave ligands (structure 1) that has been designed to provide a protected cavity for the binding of such small molecules as 02 and CO. The ligands resemble porphrins only in that they contain four nitrogen donors NR2 = (CH2)n, n = 4-8, m-, p-xylyl, etc.