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P12L24 is a porphyrin-based molecular cage made from 12 square-shaped porphyrins and 24 bent organic linkers. Its crystal structure measures about 5.3 nm across. The 2020 paper’s authors called it, “to the best of our knowledge,” the largest pure organic synthetic cage reported so far—a carefully qualified claim, not proof of a universal record today.
What is P12L24?
P12L24 is a covalently assembled, hollow molecular structure described by Jaehyoung Koo and colleagues in a 2020 Chem paper. Its name reflects its building blocks: 12 square-shaped porphyrin units and 24 bent organic linkers, or 36 components in total. The team assembled it in a one-pot process without a template.
Single-crystal X-ray analysis revealed a cuboctahedral structure. This is a molecular architecture, not a consumer product or a cage large enough to see with the naked eye.
How large is the cage?
The reported overall diameter is approximately 5.3 nm. A 2022 Chemical Reviews review gives the internal cavity diameter as 4.3 nm. These measurements describe different things: the overall span includes the cage framework, while the cavity measurement describes the hollow space inside it.
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The synthesis was challenging. The 2022 review identifies solubility problems, polymeric byproducts, and the formation of smaller cages favored on entropic grounds as obstacles. The one-pot, template-free description therefore does not mean the structure formed simply or without competing products.
What did researchers demonstrate?
Photooxidation
The researchers reported that cage 3a catalyzed the photooxidation of dihydroxynaphthalene derivatives in a heterogeneous setting. A 2024 Chemical Science review says the large pores facilitate substrate diffusion and summarizes a size effect: larger substrates showed higher conversion than with smaller porphyrin cages. These are laboratory findings, not evidence of a deployed commercial process.
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Insertion of a linear guest
The team also inserted an approximately 4 nm-long pillar linker into a zinc-metallated form of the cage, Zn-P12L24, in solution. This demonstrated that the cage could accommodate a long linear guest under the reported conditions. It is a proof of concept, not a general claim that arbitrary molecules can pass through or fit inside the cage.
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Is it still the largest organic cage?
The 2020 authors wrote: “To the best of our knowledge, it represents the largest, pure organic synthetic cage reported so far.” The qualifiers matter: this was their assessment against the literature available to them when they published. A 2024 review still described the roughly 5.3 nm structure as the largest porphyrin organic cage, but that narrower statement does not establish a comprehensive ranking of every pure organic cage in 2026.
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Comparisons also depend on what is being measured. Overall diameter is not cavity diameter; a purely organic structure is not directly interchangeable with a metal-containing one; and a size determined from a crystal structure may not be comparable to one inferred by another method. The defensible takeaway is that P12L24 was reported in 2020 as an unusually large pure organic synthetic cage and remained the largest porphyrin cage cited by the 2024 review.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where the result was published
Koo and colleagues’ peer-reviewed article, “Gigantic Porphyrinic Cages”, appeared in Chem, volume 6, issue 12, pages 3374–3384, on December 3, 2020.
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