Dr. Esma Abdurakhmanova, Dr. Hanna Jędrzejewska, Dr. Piotr Cmoch and Prof. Agnieszka Szumna, in cooperation with groups from IPC and CENT, published a paper in the journal Chem, in which they presented new conceptual assumptions and a new type of anion receptors and transporters. They showed that resorcin[4]arenes, compounds that normally bind cations, can be “switched” after a simple synthetic modification and bind anions. This binding occurs using very weak interactions, but thanks to the appropriate concentration of electrostatic potential and a large dipole moment, these receptors are more effective than many typical receptors based on strong interactions, both in the recognition and transport of anions through lipid bilayers. Moreover, the authors showed that this type of receptors has features that are crucial for the use of receptors in biological applications (e.g. due to the lack of proton-labile groups, the cytotoxic pH- equilibration effect is limited). The developed concept opens new possibilities for both the construction of effective anion sensors and their further use as, e.g., active substances in the treatment of diseases associated with anion transport disorders (e.g. cystic fibrosis).
E. R. Abdurakhmanova, D. Mondal, H. Jędrzejewska, P. Cmoch, O. Danylyuk, M. J. Chmielewski, A. Szumna, „Supramolecular umpolung: Converting electron-rich resorcin[4]arenes into potent CH-bonding anion receptors and transporters”, Chem