2.B.138.  Coupled Photoresponsive Ion Transporter with Transition Metal Catalysis (CPIT-TMC)

Artificial ion transporters have been explored both as tools for studying biological ion transport processes and as potential therapeutics for cancer and channelopathies. Chao et al. 2024 demonstrated that synthetic transporters may also be used to regulate the transport of catalytic metal ions across lipid membranes and thus control chemical reactivity inside lipid-bound compartments. They showed that acyclic lipophilic pyridyltriazoles enable Pd(II) cations to be transported from the external aqueous phase across the lipid bilayer and into the interior of large unilamellar vesicles. In situ reduction generates Pd(0) species, which catalyze the generation of a fluorescent product. Photocaging the Pd(II) transporter allows for photoactivation of the transport process and hence photocontrol over the internal catalysis process. This work demonstrates that artificial transporters enable control over catalysis inside artificial cell-like systems, which could form the basis of biocompatible nanoreactors for applications such as drug synthesis and delivery or to mediate phototargeted catalyst delivery into cells (Chao et al. 2024).

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