Tellurium-based Anion Transporters: Adapted Design and Supramolecular Interactions with Anions and Phospholipid Membranes

With the support of the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program of the Division of Chemistry, Professors François Gabbaï and Saranya Pullanchery of the Department of Chemistry at Texas A&M University will explore the potential of a novel group of compounds as anion transporters. The project will investigate how the accessibility of the anion binding sites in these compounds, their positioning, and their electronic characteristics influence anion transport across artificial models of biological lipidic membranes. Optical measurements will clarify how these transporters behave in the lipid membranes, both in the presence and absence of the anionic cargo. This interdisciplinary project will contribute to the education of graduate students while also providing opportunities for various outreach activities. Owing to their low steric profile and easily accessible binding sites, telluronium cations have emerged as promising platforms for anion binding chemistry. Aiming to establish the use of these systems for transporting anions across phospholipid bilayers, this project will first seek to understand the structural and electronic variations that influence transport, particularly in cases of chloride and trifluoracetate anions. In addition to monofunctional systems, the project will explore bis(tellurium) cations as bifunctional platforms adapted to the complexation and thus transport of the polyatomic trifluoracetate anion. The new telluronium-based transporters will be characterized, and their activity will be evaluated using vesicle assays. A clearer mechanistic picture will be gained from second-order nonlinear optical techniques, which will shed light on the precise behavior of the transporters in the lipid membranes and how this behavior is altered when an anionic cargo interacts with the tellurium center. These various approaches will paint a comprehensive picture of the supramolecular behavior of these telluronium cations and their potential as anion transporters. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.