Molecular Recognition of Amino Sugars by a Porphyrin-based Receptor in Aqueous Media

Abstract

Although many artificial receptors mimicking these binding events were reported to be operative in aprotic non-polar solvents, they are less effective in more polar solvents or aqueous media. This limitation arises because carbohydrates are highly solvated by water molecules － a thermodynamic barrier which may hamper receptor-saccharide interactions based on hydrogen bonding.In previous works, urea-appended porphyrins have been developed for efficient carbohydrate recognition in organic media.