Self-assembled tetrazine cryptophane for ion pair recognition and guest release by cage disassembly.

Hereby, we describe the synthesis of a self-assembled -cryptophane using dynamic nucleophilic aromatic substitution of tetrazines. H NMR cage titrations reveal that the tetramethylammonium cation binds under slow exchange conditions while counter-anions show a fast exchange regime. Finally, the cryptophane can be disassembled by the addition of thiols allowing guest release.