Summary of literature reported hydrophilic ligands discussed in this review (top-half) and the four potential future directions of ligand design based on our understanding. Figures for polymeric and biobased ligands are recreated from Refs [178] and [54] with permissions of the Springer Nature Limited and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Single crystals structures for macrocyclic and bioinspired ligands are plotted from CCDCs reported in Refs [152] and [179].