ATP dependant artificial enzymatic pumps for the primary active transport of small molecules

Abstract

To be able to concentrate or selectively separate small molecules using chemical energy alone would be of considerable interest. In nature, biomembranes are capable of doing just this. The new concept of artificial enzymatic pumps has allowed the development of artificial biomimetic membranes capable of transporting specific small hydrophylic molecules against their concentration gradients at constant temperature and pressure. This primary active transport, which uses ATP as its energy source, already permits small molecules such as glycerol-3-phosphate to be concentrated 17-fold.