Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Self-Assembly of Hybrid Lipid Membranes Doped with Hydrophobic Organic Molecules at the Water/Air Interface
Published on: May 1, 2020
Pd(II)-mediated assembly of porphyrin channels in bilayer membranes
Usha Devi1, James R D Brown, Andrew Almond
1Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocentre, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
A membrane-spanning bis(meso-3-pyridyl) porphyrin 1 has been synthesized, embedded in EYPC vesicles, and upon Pd(II) addition has been shown to form ionophores that allow the passage of anionic 5/6-carboxyfluorescein through membranes. The geometric matching of bis(meso-3-pyridyl) porphyrin 1 and trans-Pd(II) was designed to give a cyclic porphyrin trimer [PdCl(2)(1)](3). However, solution-phase studies showed that PdCl(2)(PhCN)(2) cross linked 1 into linear oligomers at porphyrin concentrations above 10 mM, although the formation of cyclic species was inferred from studies at concentrations below 2 μM. Fluorescence titrations showed that embedding porphyrin 1 in bilayers greatly reduced its affinity for Pd(II), but the combination of porphyrin 1 and Pd(II) gave an ionophoric species that increased the rate of 5/6-carboxyfluorescein (5/6-CF) transit through the phospholipid bilayer 12-fold. A maximum in the 5/6-CF release rate was observed at a Pd(II) concentration of 4 μM, and the application of a solution-phase binding model to the membrane phase showed that this peak in ionophoric activity corresponded to the greatest extent of porphyrin oligomerization. Further studies suggested these Pd(II)/porphyrin oligomers transported 5/6-CF via a channel mechanism.
Related Concept Videos
Phosphoinositides and PIPs
Different phosphoinositides are synthesized and recruited on the cytosolic face of the plasma membrane. The localization of specific phosphoinositides concentrated in separate membrane...
Structure of Porins
Porin Insertion in the Outer Mitochondrial Membrane
Three models describe the assembly of porins by the SAM complex and their insertion into the outer membrane. Model 1 suggests that porins are assembled outside the SAM channel as the...
Photosystem I
Both these photosystems work in concert. An excited electron from PSII is relayed to PSI via an electron transport chain in the thylakoid membrane of the chloroplast, which is comprised of the carrier molecule plastoquinone, the dual-protein cytochrome complex, and plastocyanin. As electrons move between PSII and PSI, they lose energy and must be re-energized...
IP3/DAG Signaling Pathway
Photosystem II
The pigment molecules are arranged across two photosystem domains — the antenna complex and the reaction center. The main aim of the pigment molecules...

