Investigating Ion Transport through Artificial Transmembrane Channels Containing Introverted Groups

Abstract

Comprehensive SummaryThe investigation on the relationship between structure and transport activity of artificial transmembrane channels has still remained a challenge because of lacking strategy to precisely arrange the functional group in the channel structures. Herein, we report a general strategy to monitor ion transport through the artificial channels by using unimolecular tubular molecules containing introverted groups. We found that the ion transport rate decreased with elongation of the introverted sidechains and the channel with propyl group as the introverted sidechain exhibited the longest opening duration time. Moreover, we have revealed that, comparing to the ion transport rate, the opening duration is a more important factor for determining the transport activity of the artificial channels.