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Light-driven Molecular Motors on Surfaces for Single Molecular Imaging
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Membrane-Active Molecular Machines.

Jie Shen1, Changliang Ren2, Huaqiang Zeng1

  • 1School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710072, China.

Accounts of Chemical Research
|March 29, 2022
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers developed novel artificial molecular machines, including swings and fishers, to transport ions across cell membranes. These "motional channels" offer enhanced activity and selectivity, potentially leading to future medical applications.

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Area of Science:

  • Supramolecular Chemistry
  • Membrane Transport
  • Artificial Molecular Machines

Background:

  • Biological and artificial membrane transporters regulate cellular material transport via channel or carrier mechanisms.
  • Existing artificial transporters often mimic biological mechanisms, with limited examples of novel transport pathways.
  • The need for new artificial transporters with tunable activity and selectivity is critical for various applications.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To design and synthesize novel artificial molecular machines that induce transmembrane ion flux.
  • To explore unconventional transport mechanisms beyond traditional channels and carriers.
  • To investigate the structure-property relationships governing ion transport activity and selectivity.

Main Methods:

  • Inspiration from a child's swing led to the design of nanoscale 'molecular swings'.
  • Synthesis of diverse artificial molecular machines: molecular swings, ion fishers, ion swimmers, rotors, tetrapuses, and dodecapuses.
  • Utilized benzo-crown ether groups for ion binding and transport across lipid bilayers.
  • Characterization of ion transport activity (EC50) and selectivity (e.g., K+/Na+ ratios).

Main Results:

  • Developed multiple artificial transporters exhibiting unique transport mechanisms (swinging, fishing, swimming, rotating).
  • Molecular swings ('motional channels') showed high K+ transport activity (27% faster than gramicidin A).
  • Molecular ion fishers achieved the highest K+/Na+ selectivity (18.3), while dodecapuses showed high Na+/K+ selectivity (13.7).
  • Molecular ion swimmers exhibited high activity and selectivity (K+/Na+ = 7.0-9.5).
  • C60-fullerene core in dodecapuses facilitated direct translation of binding affinity to transport selectivity.

Conclusions:

  • Novel artificial molecular machines offer new paradigms for transmembrane ion transport.
  • These transporters display a range of activities and selectivities, surpassing some natural systems.
  • The observed cytotoxic activities suggest potential for future therapeutic applications.