Lambda the Ultimate

I've become interested in the question of syntax extensions: not the general theory of extending syntax, nor the mechanisms for extending syntax (there are many, from the C preprocessor to Racket's extended syntax-case), but some basis for deciding what syntaxes should be provided and how they ought to be organized. Most languages have fixed syntax, either because their creators took it for granted or as a matter of principle. Those that do allow syntax extension usually have cultural constraints against overusing it, and the extended syntaxes provided by the standard library are a rag-bag whose members depend on history or the creator's whims or both. We seem to be at the same state where syntax libraries are concerned that we were in in the 1960s for procedure libraries.

Is there state of the art about this that I haven't heard about yet? Please inform and/or enlighten me.