Ditopic Ion Transport Systems: Anion-π Interactions and Halogen Bonds at Work

摘要

Ion transport systems that operate in lipid bilayer membranes are emerging as attractive tools to probe the functional relevance of weak interactions that are otherwise difficult to observe. This approach builds on the notion that transport and catalysis operate best with weaker interactions than the ones that are required for detection in binding studies. Earlier important work in theory and in bulk membranes has confirmed that transport efficiency follows "Goldilocks principle", with the stronger binders not being the best transporter. Herein, we introduce single-atom mutation series with a new ditopic ion transport system to demonstrate the general functional relevance of anion-π interactions and to achieve, for the first time, anion transport with halogen bonds.