A terpyridine or an imidazole unit has been tethered to an N-protected polyazacyclophane to give the appropriate N-monofunctionalized polyazacyclophane. After mild deprotection, four polyazacyclophanes incorporating a pendant group were obtained in satisfactory yields. Their preliminary cleavage ability of mRNA 5'-cap model was studied at pH 7.2. Published by Elsevier Ltd.