Research Vision

Unconventional transporters that do not utilize channel or carrier mechanisms for ion transport

2022-12-02

We recently demonstrated that macroscopic swing and ion-fishing mechanisms can be applied in the microscopic world to facilitate ion transport across lipid membrane (For a recent review by us, see: Acc. Chem. Res. 2022, 55, 1148; For molecular swing, see: Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 8034; For molecular ion fishers, see: J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 9788; For molecular ball, see: J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 21082; For molecular tetrahedron, see: CCS Chem. 2020, 2, 2269For ion swimmer, see: Nano Lett. 202121, 1384; For molecular rotor, see: Sci. China Chem. 2021, 64, 2154). Shall we just stop here? Certainly we shall not for two-fold reasons. On the one hand, each new type of transporter by its own right is highly modular in structure, enabling an evolutionary approach with a parallel synthesis of library members to be applied for rapid discovery of ion channels with new properties. On the other hand, in addition to swings, fishers, rotors, etc, macroscopic objects also consist of many others, including propeller, pump, mover and windmill. Can these macroscopic functions be mimicked at the molecular level for ion transport?