Cucurbit uril (CB ), a new family of molecular hosts comprising n glycoluril units, has gained much attention in recent years for its exceptional molecular recognition ability. CB can construct well-defined nanoscopic supramolecular architectures by covalent or non-covalent methods, which is expected to get new nano-materials with unique function. The introduction of macrocyclic hosts CB may endow corresponding CB assemblies with novel physicochemical properties, which show a wide range of intriguing applications in the reaction vessels, surfactant, carrier, vesicle, molecular switch, as well as in the ISEs. In this review, we mainly summarize recent progresses in directing the formation of the desirable superstructures through introducing macrocyclic hosts CB . Finally, the prospects of CB in the future are described. It is hopeful that this review can provide a sophisticated pathway for further designing fascinating CB based on nanoscopic supramolecular architectures.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Synthesis and separation
2.1 Synthesis and separation of CB
2.2 Functionalization of CB
3 Application
3.1 Reaction vessel
3.2 Carrier
3.3 Molecular switch
3.4 Supramolecular hydrogel
3.5 Iimmobilization of CB on solid
3.6 Pollutants and dye adsorption
3.7 Vesicle
3.8 ISEs
3.9 Artificial ion channels
3.10 The interaction between CB and surfactant
3.11 The other lastest applications of CB
4 Conclusions and outlook