Shen Jie, R Deepa, Li Zhongyan, Oh Hyeonji, Behera Harekrushna, Joshi Himanshu, Kumar Manish, Aksimentiev Aleksei, Zeng Huaqiang
College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350116, China.
Department of BioTechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Kandi, Sangareddy, 502285, Telangana, India.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2023 Sep 25;62(39):e202305623. doi: 10.1002/anie.202305623. Epub 2023 Aug 17.
Unlike many other biologically relevant ions (Na , K , Ca , Cl , etc) and protons, whose cellular concentrations are closely regulated by highly selective channel proteins, Li ion is unusual in that its concentration is well tolerated over many orders of magnitude and that no lithium-specific channel proteins have so far been identified. While one naturally evolved primary pathway for Li ions to traverse across the cell membrane is through sodium channels by competing with Na ions, highly sought-after artificial lithium-transporting channels remain a major challenge to develop. Here we show that sulfur-containing organic nanotubes derived from intramolecularly H-bonded helically folded aromatic foldamers of 3.6 Å in hollow cavity diameter could facilitate highly selective and efficient transmembrane transport of Li ions, with high transport selectivity factors of 15.3 and 19.9 over Na and K ions, respectively.
与许多其他具有生物学相关性的离子（如Na⁺、K⁺、Ca²⁺、Cl⁻等）和质子不同，这些离子的细胞内浓度由高度选择性的通道蛋白密切调节，而锂离子的不同寻常之处在于，其浓度在多个数量级上都能被很好地耐受，并且迄今为止尚未发现锂特异性通道蛋白。虽然锂离子穿过细胞膜的一种自然进化的主要途径是通过与Na⁺竞争通过钠通道，但备受追捧的人工锂转运通道的开发仍然是一个重大挑战。在这里，我们表明，由分子内氢键螺旋折叠的芳香折叠体衍生而来的含硫有机纳米管，其空心腔直径为3.6 Å，能够促进锂离子的高度选择性和高效跨膜运输，对Na⁺和K⁺离子的运输选择性因子分别高达15.3和19.9。
