1.D.173.  The Synthetic Self-assembled Mannitol-based Nanotube Pore (SSMNP) Family 

Dimeric self-assembly of individual mannitol units through intermolecular H-bonding of −OH groups, leads to the formation of fibrils (Malla et al. 2021). In the presence of anions, higher ordered structures can be formed in a lipid bilayer. The ion transport profile revealed thermodynamically favorable ion channel formation with the channel being Cl⁻ selective. Molecular dynamics studies provided additional support for the formation of rosette assembly and also revealed that the hopping mechanism is operating during Cl⁻ ion transport through the channel, i. e., the Cl⁻ ion jumps from one rosette to another in the lumen of the channel. This whole process is thermodynamically driven by H-bonding of the anion with −OH groups (Malla et al. 2021). The design was modified with a vicinal diol system where the ion transport activity is tuned by varying the lipophilicity of the individual monomeric units for better permeation through the lipid bilayer membrane. An assembly of such rosettes leads to the formation of higher-order supramolecular assemblies, i.e., M₂,_n, to form an effective channel in the lipid bilayer. The side chains were varied to vary the lipophilicity of individual monomers, which tunes the transport activity (Malla et al. 2021).

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