A series of dicobalt(III) metallohosts, [LCo2A4](OTf)2, which have different auxiliary amine ligands A (= EtNH2, PhCH2NH2, PhC2H4NH2, PhC3H6NH2), were synthesized in order to investigate the tuning of the guest uptake/release kinetics without significantly affecting the guest binding affinity. The metallohosts were characterized by spectroscopic methods and X-ray crystallography. All the metallohosts showed a Na+ selectivity among the investigated alkali meal ions with a clear selectivity trend of Na+ >
K+ >
Rb+ >
Cs+. The difference in the auxiliary amine ligands A had a more significant influence on the guest uptake rates than on the release rates. This can be mainly explained by the structural features of the guest-free form, [LCo2A4]2+, in which the phenyl C-H groups in the auxiliary amine ligands A interacted with the oxygen atoms of the O6 binding cavity via the C-H···O interactions.