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Updated: Oct 26, 2025

Selection of Transporter-Targeted Inhibitory Nanobodies by Solid-Supported-Membrane SSM-Based Electrophysiology
Published on: May 3, 2021
Enantioselective Antiport in Asymmetric Nanochannels
Siyun Zhang1, Ming Cheng1, Manivannan Kalavathi Dhinakaran1
1Key Laboratory of Pesticide and Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University (CCNU), Wuhan, 430079, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Enantioselective sensing and separation are major challenges. Nanochannel technologies are energy-saving and efficient for membrane separation. Herein, inspired by biological antiporter proteins, artificial nanochannels with antiporter behavior were fabricated for chiral sensing and separation. Tyrosine enantiomers were incorporated into hourglass-shaped nanochannels via stepwise modifications to fabricating multiligand-modified asymmetric channels. Chiral distinction of naproxen enantiomers was amplified in the l-Tyr/d-Tyr channels, with an enantioselectivity coefficient of 524, which was over 100-fold that of one-ligand-modified nanochannels. Furthermore, transport experiments evidenced the spontaneous antiport of naproxen enantiomers in the l-Tyr/d-Tyr channels. The racemic naproxen sample was separated via the chiral antiport process, with an enantiomeric excess of 71.2%. Further analysis using electro-osmotic flow experiments and finite-element simulations confirmed that the asymmetric modified multiligand was key to achieving separation of the naproxen enantiomers. We expect these multiligand-modified asymmetric nanochannels to provide insight into mimicking biological antiporter systems and offer an approach to energy-efficient and robust enantiomer separation.
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