Chemical Research in Chinese Universities ›› 2025, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (1): 95-100.doi: 10.1007/s40242-024-4149-7

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Supramolecular Ion Channel with Controlled K+/Na+ Transport Behaviors

HE Lei, LUO Yichen, ZHANG Yang, YAN Tengfei, LIU Junqiu   

  1. College of Material, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Organosilicon Chemistry and Material Technology of Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Organosilicon Material Technology of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310036, P. R. China
  • Received:2024-06-25 Online:2025-02-01 Published:2025-01-18
  • Contact: YAN Tengfei,tengfeiyan@163.com;LIU Junqiu,junqiuliu@jlu.edu.cn E-mail:tengfeiyan@163.com;junqiuliu@jlu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22105056 and 22275046).

Abstract: Dysfunction of ion channels, often caused by mutations in natural proteins, can lead to various channelopathies. Their artificial analogs have shown great promise to substitute the abnormal channels. Here, we report a supramolecular potassium channel that forms through the self-assembly of pyrene-crown ether conjugated by intermolecular π-π interactions. The self-assembled dimer of this channel was optimized and calculated to have a binding energy of -27.4 kcal/mol (1 kcal=4.18 kJ). Evidence for the formation of an active ion channel by PC5 was confirmed using a planar lipid bilayer (BLM) workstation, while no such activity was observed for R-PC5. The K+/Na+ selectivity was reversed in the reduced form, R-PC5, due to the elimination of the planar structure of PC5, resulting in R-PC5 functioning as a Na+ carrier. Additionally, incorporating the pyrene group facilitates imaging in living cells, providing a potentially viable method for investigating the behaviors of artificial ion channels in living systems.

Key words: Crown ether, Pyrene, Ion transport, Self-assembly