Transition metal directed self-assembly can be utilised to design and form metallosupramolecular assemblies such as coordination polymers or polyhedra. Examples have shown these materials to possess useful properties such as porosity or catalytic behaviour allowing them to be used as functional materials. The design and investigation of new metallo-supramolecular materials is of great interest in supramolecular chemistry and crystal engineering with the goal of future applications in areas such as nanoscale devices, gas storage and molecular machinery. Two groups of tripodal ligands with donor atom functionality have been successfully synthesised and their coordination ability investigated. One group of ligands are hosttype 'curved' ligands based on the molecule cyclotriveratrylene (CTV) and the· other group are planar in nature. Both discrete and infinite entities have been formed including a rare 3-D triply interlocked [2]-catenane from the ligand tris(4-[4-methyl2,2'- bipyridyl]methyl)CTG with Zn(N03)2 and Co(N03h. A number of the ligands have shown to act as Low Molecular Weight Gelators (LMWG's) to form both organoand metallo-LMWG's that possess a mixture of thermo, mechano and chemo reversibility.