Abstract
Abstract The lightest metals have health implications for all organisms. Sodium, magnesium, potassium, and calcium are of particular importance as their cations perform numerous biochemical functions from muscle control to bone formation. Understanding how these ions are transported across cell membranes with high selectivity is a fascinating topic that is slowly being unraveled through combinations of kinetic, solid state, and computational data. In addition to biological cation transport, model systems are also shedding light on the details of selectivity and transport. An overview of cation transport mechanisms is followed by a survey of natural and artificial ionophores for the lightest metals. Natural transmembrane channel‐forming proteins are described, with an emphasis on those for which crystallographic evidence has aided in elucidating the details of the transport mechanisms, followed by examples of artificial transmembrane channel‐forming compounds.
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