<正> Crown ethers,first reported by Pedersen in 1967,were found to be capableof forming stable complexes with many salts of alkali and alkaline earth cations.Since then,many new types of macrocyclic polyethers were synthesized andused in chemical and biochemical researches.In 1969 polyoxamacrobicyclic di-amines were introduced by Lehn as potential ionophores.According to Lehn'snomenclature,these compounds are called cryptands.They have three dimen-sional cavities,which can be tailored to the size required by different cations.