Adaptive Supramolecular Nanosystems Group, Institut Europeen des Membranes , ENSCM-UMII-UMR CNRS 5635, Place Eugene Bataillon CC047, 34095 Montpellier, France.
Acc Chem Res. 2013 Dec 17;46(12):2814-23. doi: 10.1021/ar400025e. Epub 2013 Apr 8.
Within biological systems, natural channels and pores transport metabolites across the cell membranes. Researchers have explored artificial ion-channel architectures as potential mimics of natural ionic conduction. All these synthetic systems have produced an impressive collection of alternative artificial ion-channels. Amazingly, researchers have made far less progress in the area of synthetic water channels. The development of synthetic biomimetic water channels and pores could contribute to a better understanding of the natural function of protein channels and could offer new strategies to generate highly selective, advanced water purification systems. Despite the imaginative work by synthetic chemists to produce sophisticated architectures that confine water clusters, most synthetic water channels have used natural proteins channels as the selectivity components, embedded in the diverse arrays of bioassisted artificial systems. These systems combine natural proteins that present high water conductance states under natural conditions with artificial lipidic or polymeric matrixes. Experimental results have demonstrated that natural biomolecules can be used as bioassisted building blocks for the construction of highly selective water transport through artificial membranes. A next step to further the potential of these systems was the design and construction of simpler compounds that maintain the high conduction activity obtained with natural compounds leading to fully synthetic artificial biomimetic systems. Such studies aim to use constitutional selective artificial superstructures for water/proton transport to select functions similar to the natural structures. Moving to simpler water channel systems offers a chance to better understand mechanistic and structural behaviors and to uncover novel interactive water-channels that might parallel those in biomolecular systems. This Account discusses the incipient development of the first artificial water channels systems. We include only systems that integrate synthetic elements in their water selective translocation unit. Therefore, we exclude peptide channels because their sequences derive from the proteins in natural channels. We review many of the natural systems involved in water and related proton transport processes. We describe how these systems can fit within our primary goal of maintaining natural function within bioassisted artificial systems. In the last part of the Account, we present several inspiring breakthroughs from the last decade in the field of biomimetic artificial water channels. Researchers have synthesized and tested hydrophobic, hydrophilic and hybrid nanotubular systems. All these examples demonstrate how the novel interactive water-channels can parallel biomolecular systems. At the same time these simpler artificial water channels offer a means of understanding the molecular-scale hydrodynamics of water for many biological scenarios.
在生物系统中，天然通道和孔将代谢物输送穿过细胞膜。研究人员探索了人工离子通道结构，作为天然离子传导的潜在模拟物。所有这些合成系统都产生了一系列令人印象深刻的替代人工离子通道。令人惊讶的是，研究人员在合成水通道领域的进展要少得多。合成仿生水通道和孔的发展有助于更好地理解蛋白质通道的自然功能，并为生成高度选择性的先进水净化系统提供新的策略。尽管合成化学家们发挥了想象力，制造出了限制水团的复杂结构，但大多数合成水通道都使用天然蛋白质通道作为选择性组件，嵌入在各种生物辅助人工系统中。这些系统将在自然条件下呈现高水流状态的天然蛋白质与人工脂质或聚合物基质结合在一起。实验结果表明，天然生物分子可用作构建高度选择性水通过人工膜的生物辅助构建块。进一步推进这些系统潜力的下一步是设计和构建更简单的化合物，这些化合物保持与天然化合物获得的高传导活性，从而导致完全合成的人工仿生系统。这些研究旨在使用组成选择性的人工超结构来进行水/质子传输，以选择类似于天然结构的功能。转向更简单的水通道系统提供了更好地理解机械和结构行为以及揭示可能与生物分子系统平行的新型交互式水通道的机会。本账户讨论了第一个人工水通道系统的初步发展。我们仅包括在其水选择性转运单元中集成合成元件的系统。因此，我们排除了肽通道，因为它们的序列源自天然通道中的蛋白质。我们回顾了许多涉及水和相关质子传输过程的天然系统。我们描述了这些系统如何适应我们的主要目标，即在生物辅助人工系统中保持自然功能。在账户的最后一部分，我们介绍了过去十年中仿生人工水通道领域的几个令人鼓舞的突破。研究人员已经合成并测试了疏水性、亲水性和混合纳米管状系统。所有这些例子都表明，新型交互式水通道如何与生物分子系统平行。同时，这些更简单的人工水通道为理解许多生物场景下水的分子尺度流体动力学提供了一种手段。
