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A series of fluorescent coumarin-based bis-ureas have been synthesised. These compounds show strong HCl cotransport properties in model vesicle systems. Cellular localisation studies show that cytotoxic compound 4 localises in lysosomes and perturbs cellular pH.

Targeting the cancer cell mitochondrion is a promising approach for developing novel anticancer agents. The experimental anticancer agent N,N'-bis(3,5-dichlorophenyl)urea (SR4) induces apoptotic cell death in several cancer cell lines by uncoupling mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) using a protein-free mechanism. However, the precise mechanism by which SR4 depolarizes mitochondria is unclear because SR4 lacks an acidic functional group typically found in protein-independent uncouplers. Recently, it was shown that structurally related thioureas can facilitate proton transport across lipid bilayers by a fatty acid-activated mechanism, in which the fatty acid acts as the site of protonation/deprotonation and the thiourea acts as an anion transporter that shuttles deprotonated fatty acids across the phospholipid bilayer to enable proton leak. In this paper, we show that SR4-mediated proton transport is enhanced by the presence of free fatty acids in the lipid bilayer, indicating that SR4 uncouples mitochondria through the fatty acid-activated mechanism. This mechanistic insight was used to develop a library of substituted bisaryl ureas for structure-activity relationship studies and subsequent cell testing. It was found that lipophilic electron-withdrawing groups on bisaryl ureas enhanced electrogenic proton transport via the fatty acid-activated mechanism and had the capacity to depolarize mitochondria and reduce the viability of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. The most active compound in the series reduced cell viability with greater potency than SR4 and was more effective at inhibiting adenosine triphosphate production.

A number of artificial cation ionophores (or transporters) have been developed for basic research and biomedical applications. However, their mechanisms of action and the putative correlations between changes in intracellular cation concentrations and induced cell death remain poorly understood. Here we show that three hemispherand-strapped calix[4]pyrrole based ion pair receptors act as efficient Na+/K+ exchangers in the presence of Cl- in liposomal models, and promote Na+ influx and K+ efflux (Na+/K+ exchange) in cancer cells to induce apoptosis. Mechanistic studies reveal that these cation exchangers induce endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in cancer cells by perturbing intracellular cation homeostasis, promote generation of reactive oxygen species, and eventually enhance mitochondria-mediated apoptosis. However, they neither induce osmotic stress nor affect autophagy. The present study provides support for the notion that synthetic receptors which perturb cellular cation homeostasis may provide a new approach to generating agents with potentially useful apoptotic activity.

Aryl-urea substituted fatty acids are protonophores and mitochondrial uncouplers that utilise a urea-based synthetic anion transport moiety to carry out the protonophoric cycle. Herein we show that replacement of the urea group with carbamate, a functional group not previously reported to possess anion transport activity, produces analogues that retain the activity of their urea counterparts. Thus, the aryl-carbamate substituted fatty acids uncouple oxidative phosphorylation and inhibit ATP production by collapsing the mitochondrial proton gradient. Proton transport proceeds

Na+, Cl− and K+ are the most abundant electrolytes present in biological fluids that are essential to the regulation of pH homeostasis, membrane potential and cell volume in living organisms. Herein, we report synthetic crown ether-thiourea conjugates as a cation/anion symporter, which can transport both Na+ and Cl− across lipid bilayers with relatively high transport activity. Surprisingly, the ion transport activities were diminished when high concentrations of K+ ions were present outside the vesicles. This unusual behavior resulted from the strong affinity of the transporters for K+ ions, which led to predominant partitioning of the transporters as the K+ complexes in the aqueous phase preventing the transporter incorporation into the membrane. Synthetic membrane transporters with Na+, Cl− and K+ transport capabilities may have potential biological and medicinal applications. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

We report a series of easily accessible carbazole-based bis-ureas and thioureas as effective anion receptors and transporters. The compounds exhibit moderate Cl− binding affinity in wet DMSO and Cl− transport capabilities in phospholipid membranes predominantly through an electroneutral H+/Cl− and anion exchange mechanisms.

In the February issue of Chem, Hu, Wang, and coworkers synthesized a Janus metal-organic layer that can be embedded into lipid bilayer membranes, undergoes photo-induced charge transfer, and facilitates active H+ transport and subsequent ATP synthesis by CF0F1-ATP synthase in liposomes.

Using the chemical versatility of the benzo[b]thiophene motif, an extensive library of 24 (thio)urea receptors, with different binding properties and lipophilicities, was prepared and included α,α-, α,β-, β,β-, β,γ-, α,γ-, and γ,γ-benzo[b]thiophene positional isomers, as well as β- or γ-benzo[b]thiophene-based molecules decorated with aliphatic chains or aryl moieties with different fluorination degrees. 1H NMR titrations, X-ray crystallographic studies, and DFT calculations were used to study the chloride binding affinities between receptors and substrates. Experimental efflux studies suggested that the anion transmembrane transport activity is dependent on the receptors′ lipophilicity and hydrogen bonding ability. Moreover, LUV based assays indicated that anion efflux occurs mainly through an uniport mechanism. Further MD simulations showed that anion transport is highly dependent on the orientation and interactions of the receptors at the water/lipid interface. Graphical Abstract Playing with benzo[b]thiophene-based motifs as Lego bricks, an extensive library of small drug-like synthetic receptors was designed. Their anion binding and transmembrane transport properties were investigated by a combination of experimental and theoretical approaches. The most active transporters recognize chloride using an urea assisted by a C−H binding unit from a single β- or γ-benzo[b]thiophene motif. published

Guest editors Katrina Jolliffe and Philip Gale introduce the Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry themed collection on the supramolecular chemistry of anions.

This review covers advances made in anion complexation in the years 2019 and 2020. Included here are developments in self-assembly, sensing, anion separation, transport, catalysis, and fundamental advances in anion recognition systems.

Summary The genesis of anion receptor chemistry can be traced back to the late 1960s with the work of Shriver and Biallas on chelating Lewis acids and Park and Simmons on ammonium-containing cryptand-like halide receptors. Despite pioneering work in the 1970s and 1980s from the groups of Lehn and Schmidtchen, the area did not attract significant interest until the 1990s, when the field of anion receptor chemistry—which includes molecular recognition, sensing, transmembrane anion transport, extraction, crystal engineering, self-assembly, and catalysis—began to blossom. This Perspective highlights the recent developments in this area and examines future challenges.

Advances in anion transport by synthetic supramolecular systems are discussed in this article. Developments in the design of discrete molecular carriers for anions and supramolecular anion channels are reviewed followed by an overview of the use of these systems in biological systems as putative treatments for diseases such as cystic fibrosis and cancer.

Summary This review covers advances in anion complexation in the years 2017 and 2018. The review focuses on the applications of anion receptor chemistry, including sensing, self-assembly, extraction, transport, catalysis, and fundamental advances in the area.

The anion-binding and transport properties of an extensive library of thiophene-based molecules are reported. Seventeen bis-urea positional isomers, with different binding conformations and lipophilicities, have been synthesized by appending α- or β-thiophene or α-, β-, or γ-benzo[b]thiophene moieties to an ortho-phenylenediamine central core, yielding six subsets of positional isomers. Through H NMR, X-ray crystallography, molecular modelling, and anion efflux studies, it is demonstrated that the most active transporters adopt a pre-organized binding conformation capable of promoting the recognition of chloride, using urea and C−H binding groups in a cooperative fashion. Additional large unilamellar vesicle-based assays, carried out under electroneutral and electrogenic conditions, together with N-methyl-d-glucamine chloride assays, have indicated that anion efflux occurs mainly through an H/Cl symport mechanism. On the other hand, the most efficient anion transporter displays cytotoxicity against tumor cell lines, while having no effects on a cystic fibrosis cell line.

Many synthetic and supramolecular chiral polymeric systems are known to exhibit the “majority rules effect” (MRE), a positive nonlinear response in which a small enantiomeric excess (ee) of the chiral building blocks leads to unproportionally large chiroptical signals near zero ee. In contrast, the opposite “racemate rules effect” (RRE), a negative nonlinear response in which the chiroptical signals are “at near zero ee, while giving large nonlinear chiroptical responses to ee at high values, has only been occasionally observed. The origin of this unusual ee dependence remains elusive largely because few systems have been established that exhibit this effect. Herein, we present a design approach that enables the development of chiral supramolecular polymers with a pronounced negative nonlinear response akin to RRE. This is achieved by in situ generating a bidentate inducer for supramolecular polymerization that exists in both meso- and homochiral forms upon reacting with chiral guests. The presence of the meso-inducer creates an aggregate structure that has a little response in the circular dichroism (CD) spectra as a function of ee at a particular wavelength, but a homochiral inducer gives large changes in response to ee at this wavelength. This allowed for an RRE-like response to be observed when the CD intensity of the supramolecular polymers was plotted against the ee of the chiral guests that generate the meso- and homochiral inducers without the necessity of the racemic guest preferentially being incorporated into the polymer.

Active transport of ions uphill, creating a concentration gradient across a cell membrane, is essential for life. It remains a significant challenge to develop synthetic systems that allow active uphill transport. Here, a transport process fuelled by organometallic compounds is reported that creates a pH gradient. The hydrolysis reaction of Pt

Phenylthiosemicarbazones (PTSCs) are proton-coupled anion transporters with pH-switchable behaviour known to be regulated by an imine protonation equilibrium. Previously, chloride/nitrate exchange by PTSCs was found to be inactive at pH 7.2 due to locking of the thiourea anion binding site by an intramolecular hydrogen bond, and switched ON upon imine protonation at pH 4.5. The rate-determining process of the pH switch, however, was not examined. We here develop a new series of PTSCs and demonstrate their conformational behaviour by X-ray crystallographic analysis and pH-switchable anion transport properties by liposomal assays. We report the surprising finding that the protonated PTSCs are extremely selective for halides over oxyanions in membrane transport. Owing to the high chloride over nitrate selectivity, the pH-dependent chloride/nitrate exchange of PTSCs originates from the rate-limiting nitrate transport process being inhibited at neutral pH.

A series of fluorescent coumarin bis-ureas have been synthesised and their anion transport properties studied. The compounds function as highly potent HCl co-transport agents in lipid bilayer membranes.

A series of fluorescent coumarin bis-ureas have been synthesised and their anion transport properties studied. The compounds function as highly potent HCl co-transport agents in lipid bilayer membranes.

CYCLODEXTRINS HAVE BEEN EMPLOYED AS DELIVERY AGENTS FOR LIPOPHILIC ANION TRANSPORTERS, WHICH ALLOW THEIR INCORPORATION INTO LIPID BILAYERS WITHOUT USING AN ORGANIC SOLVENT OR PRE-INCORPORATION.

Phenylthiosemicarbazones (PTSCs) are proton-coupled anion transporters with pH-switchable behaviour known to be regulated by an imine protonation equilibrium. Previously, chloride/nitrate exchange by PTSCs was found to be inactive at pH 7.2 due to locking of the thiourea anion binding site by an intramolecular hydrogen bond, and switched ON upon imine protonation at pH 4.5. The rate-determining process of the pH switch, however, was not examined. We here develop a new series of PTSCs and demonstrate their conformational behaviour by X-ray crystallographic analysis and pH-switchable anion transport properties by liposomal assays. We report the surprising finding that these compounds are extremely selective for halides over oxyanions in membrane transport. Owing to the high chloride over nitrate selectivity, the pH-dependent chloride/nitrate exchange of PTSCs originates from the rate-limiting nitrate transport process being inhibited at neutral pH, whereas chloride transport remains efficient under both neutral and acidic conditions.

The vesicular anion transport activity assay, which uses 8-hydroxypyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonic acid to monitor the internal pH of the vesicles (the HPTS assay), is a widely used technique for analysing the activity of anionophore facilitated transport across a phospholipid membrane. This methods paper describes the stepwise technique to conduct this transport assay, detailing both the perks and pitfalls of using this method to determine the activity of an anionophore and the transport mechanism.

The arrangement of hydrogen bond donors around a central lipophilic scaffold has proven a successful strategy in the development of potent chloride transporters. In this work, we revisit an acridinone 1,9-bis(thio)urea motif which had previously shown promise as an anion sensor and expand the series of compounds by appending a variety of electron-withdrawing groups to the peripheral phenyl moieties. HIgh levels of activity were achieved by the most effective compounds in the series, which facilitated strictly electroneutral transport.

In this issue of Chem, Palacin, Ballester, and co-workers discuss the properties of a calix[4]pyrrole cavitand capable of facilitiating the selective transport of L-proline across liposomal membranes and which can contribute to the uptake of this amino acid in cells.

Respiring mitochondria establish a proton gradient across the mitochondrial inner membrane (MIM) that is used to generate ATP. Protein-independent mitochondrial uncouplers collapse the proton gradient and disrupt ATP production by shuttling protons back across the MIM in a protonophoric cycle. Continued cycling relies on the formation of MIM-permeable anionic species that can return to the intermembrane space after deprotonation in the mitochondrial matrix. Previously described protonophores contain acidic groups that are part of delocalised π-systems that provide large surfaces for charge delocalisation and facilitate anion permeation across the MIM. Here we present a new class of protonophoric uncoupler based on aryl-urea substituted fatty acids in which an acidic group and a π-system are separated by a long alkyl chain. The aryl-urea group in these molecules acts as a synthetic anion receptor that forms intermolecular hydrogen bonds with the fatty acid carboxylate after deprotonation. Dispersal of the negative charge across the aryl-urea system produces lipophilic dimeric complexes that can permeate the MIM and facilitate repeated cycling. Substitution of the aryl-urea group with lipophilic electron withdrawing groups is critical to complex lipophilicity and uncoupling activity. The aryl-urea substituted fatty acids represent the first biological example of mitochondrial uncoupling mediated by the interaction of a fatty acid and an anion receptor moiety, via self-assembly., A new mitochondrial uncoupler that forms membrane permeable dimers through interactions of remote acidic and anion receptor groups.

The selective and efficient capture of phosphopeptides is critical for comprehensive and in-depth phosphoproteome analysis. Reported here is a new switchable two-dimensional (2D) supramolecular polymer that can serve as an ideal platform for the enrichment of phos-phopeptides. A well-defined, positively charged metallacycle incorporated into the polymer endows the resultant polymer with a high affinity for phosphopeptides. Importantly, the stimuli-responsive nature of the polymer facilitates switchable binding affinity of phos-phopeptides, thus resulting in excellent performance in phosphopeptide enrichment and separation from model proteins. The polymer has a high enrichment capacity (165 mg/g) and detection sensitivity (2 fmol), high enrichment recovery (88%), excellent specificity, and rapid enrichment and separation properties. Additionally, we have demonstrated the capture of phosphopeptides from the tryptic digest of real bio-samples, thus illustrating the potential of this polymeric material in phosphoproteomic studies.

pH-dependent liposomal assays are often used to determine anion selectivity in transmembrane anion transport experiments. In this communication, we discuss the validity and limitations of these assays, and provide guidelines for their use to avoid misleading results.

Recently, we showed that synthetic anion transporters DSC4P-1 and SA-3 had activity related to cancer cell death. They were found to increase intracellular chloride and sodium ion concentrations. They were also found to induce apoptosis (DSC4P-1) and both induce apoptosis and inhibit autophagy (SA-3). However, determinants underlying these phenomenological findings were not elucidated. The absence of mechanistic understanding has limited the development of yet-improved systems. Here, we show that three synthetic anion transporters, DSC4P-1, SA-3, and 8FC4P, induce osmotic stress in cells by increasing intracellular ion concentrations. This triggers the generation of reactive oxygen species via a sequential process and promotes caspase-dependent apoptosis. In addition, two of the transporters, SA-3 and 8FC4P, induce autophagy by increasing the cytosolic calcium ion concentration promoted by osmotic stress. However, they eventually inhibit the autophagy process as a result of their ability to disrupt lysosome function through a transporter-mediated decrease in a lysosomal chloride ion concentration and an increase in the lysosomal pH.

Artificial receptors that recognise anionic species vianoncovalent interactions have a wide range of biomedical, industrial and environmental applications. A major challenge in this area of research is to achieve high affinity and selective anion binding in aqueous media. So far, only a few examples of receptors capable of strong (> 105M-1) anion binding in solutions containing > 50% water are available and none show selectivity for chloride. We report here the discovery of a D4h-symmetric fluorinated tetraurea macrocycle that fulfils this function owing to its unique self-assembly properties. The macrocycle has a strong tendency to self-associate into columnar aggregates viaintermolecular hydrogen bonds and aromatic stacking. In aqueous solutions, macrocycle aggregation generates hydrophobic and size-selective binding pockets favourable for hydrogen bonding with chloride. As a result, micromolar affinity and highly selective chloride binding has been achieved with this simple small molecule (MW < 700) in 60 vol% water/acetonitrile.

This review covers recent advances in anion receptor chemistry from 2016, including developments in self-assembly, sensing, anion separation, transport, catalysis and fundamental advances in anion recognition systems. ARC, EPSRC

The arrangement of hydrogen bond donors around a central lipophilic scaffold has proven a successful strategy in the development of potent chloride transporters. In this work, we revisit an acridinone 1,9-bis(thio)urea motif which had previously shown promise as an anion sensor and expand the series of compounds by appending a variety of electron-withdrawing groups to the peripheral phenyl moieties. High levels of activity were achieved by the most effective compounds in the series, which facilitated strictly electroneutral transport.

Despite commonly being used as the hosts for gases, solvents and other neutral molecules, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have received recent attention as supramolecular anion binding hosts with a broad range of environmental and biological applications. The review summarizes the development of this area, with the anion-binding MOFs categorized based on different design strategies including cationic MOFs with anion-exchange capabilities, neutral MOFs that feature anion coordination to metal nodes, as well as MOFs functionalized with non-covalent or covalent anion-recognition motifs. We also discuss the advantages of using the MOF scaffold for anion binding compared with small-molecules anion receptors.

Inspired by the reported antiviral activity of pyrimidines and triazolopyrimidines, two series of 2-anilinopyrimidines (5a-e) and 1-aryl-[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a]pyrimidines (14a-k) were designed and synthesized as potential antiviral agents. X-ray crystallographic study of compounds (14d) and (14k) confirmed the structure of the desired isomer and revealed the coplanarity of the fused [1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a]pyrimidine rings with the aryl side group. DFT studies revealed insights into the mechanism of the micro-reversible cyclisation step using DFT [B3LYP-D3(BJ)/6-31++G(d,p)]. The pharmacokinetic properties and calculation of drug likeness scores (DLS) of (5a-e) and (14a-k) suggested good traditional drug-like properties and led to the synthesis of derivatives (14a-k) which were evaluated for their anti-viral activity with the most potent derivatives subjected to cytotoxicity screening. Compounds (14a), (14c), (14e), (14f) and (14k) showed moderate to strong antiviral activity with EC50 values 38 - 186 μM. Compound (14e) (DLS = 0.29) showed the best anti-CHIKV activity (EC50 = 38 μM) and lowest cytotoxicity (CC50 > 300 μg/ml) against against breast cancer cell lines, MCF-7 and MD-AMB-231 and normal cell line EA.hy926. Simplification of [1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a]pyrimidine ring, led to series (5a-e) (DLS = 0.03 - 0.77). Derivatives (5a-d) showed fair anti-CHIKV activity (EC50 > 200 μM), while (5e) emerged as the most active antiviral agent, however the most cytotoxic.

Anion transporters have shown potential application as anti-cancer agents that function by disrupting homeostasis and triggering cell death. In this research article we report switchable anion transport by gold complexes of anion transporters that are ‘switched on’ in the presence of the reducing agent GSH by decomplexation of gold. GSH is found in higher concentrations in tumours than in healthy tissue and hence offers a strategy to target these systems to tumours.

Synthetic anion transporters that facilitate chloride transport are promising candidates for channelopathy treatments. However, most anion transporters exhibit an undesired side effect of facilitating proton transport via interacting with fatty acids present in the membrane. To address the limitation, we here report the use of a new tetrapodal scaffold to maximize the selective interaction with spherical chloride over binding the carboxylate headgroup of fatty acids. One of the new transporters demonstrated a high selectivity for chloride uniport over fatty acid-induced proton transport while being &gt, 10 times more active in chloride uniport than strapped calixpyrroles that were previously the only class of compounds known to possess similar selectivity properties.

The selective and efficient capture of phosphopeptides is critical for comprehensive and in-depth phosphoproteome analysis. However, this remains a significant challenge due to the inherently low abundance of these species in complex bio-samples. In this paper, we report a switchable two-dimensional (2D) supramolecular polymer that can serve as an ideal platform for the enrichment of phosphopeptides. A positively charged metallacycle incorporated into the polymer endows the material with a high affinity for phosphopeptides. Importantly, the stimuli-responsive nature of the polymer facilitates switchable binding affinity of phosphopeptides, resulting in its excellent performance in phosphopeptide enrichment and separation from model proteins. The polymer has a high enrichment capacity (165 mg/g) and detection sensitivity (2 fmol), high enrichment recovery (88%), excellent specificity, and rapid enrichment and separation properties. Additionally, we have demonstrated the capture of phosphopeptides from the tryptic digest of real bio-samples illustrating the potential of this polymeric material in phosphoproteomic studies.

Synthetic anion transporters are active in cystic fibrosis cells, and are additive to clinically-approved drugs, suggesting new combination therapies for this lethal genetic condition., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The development of new fluorescent and colorimetric anion sensors is surveyed in this review including hydrogen and halogen bond donating chemosensors, charged systems, boron-based chemosensors, systems that employ anion-pi interactions and excimer formation, molecular logic gates and arrays of sensors.

Perturbations in cellular chloride concentrations can affect cellular pH, autophagy and lead to the onset of apoptosis. With this in mind synthetic ion transporters have been used to disturb cellular ion homeostasis and thereby induce cell death; however, it is not clear whether synthetic ion transporters can also be used to disrupt autophagy. Here we show that squaramide-based ion transporters enhance the transport of chloride anions in liposomal models and promote sodium chloride influx into the cytosol. Liposomal and cellular transport activity of the squaramides is shown to correlate with cell death activity, which is attributed to caspase-dependent apoptosis. One ion transporter was also shown to cause additional changes in the lysosomal pH which leads to impairment of lysosomal enzyme activity and disruption of autophagic processes. This disruption is independent of the initiation of apoptosis by the ion transporter. This study provides the first experimental evidence that synthetic ion transporters can disrupt both autophagy and induce apoptosis.

Uncoupling proteins (UCPs) regulate energy expenditure in living cells by inducing proton leakage across the mitochondrial inner membrane, thereby uncoupling ADP phosphorylation from nutrient oxidation. The proton transport activity of UCP1 and UCP2 requires activation by fatty acids. We report here the first examples of synthetic small molecules performing this biologically important fatty acid-activated function. We have shown that a tripodal thiourea possesses poor H+/OH? transport activity without fatty acids, but in the presence of long-chain fatty acids is “switched on” as a proton transporter with an activity close to a commonly used protonophore. The fatty acid-enhanced proton transport was also observed for other hydrogen and halogen bond-based synthetic anion transporters. We propose that these compounds induce proton permeability by catalyzing transbilayer movement (“flip-flop”) of anionic fatty acids, so allowing the fatty acids to complete a proton transport cycle. Several lines of evidence have been provided to support such a fatty acid cycling mechanism. Our findings open up new applications of anion receptor chemistry, and provide important clues for understanding biological activities of synthetic anion transporters and potentially the uncoupling mechanism of naturally occurring membrane proteins.

A series of chloride receptors has been synthesized containing an amide hydrogen bonding site and a hydroquinone motif. It was anticipated that oxidation of the hydroquinone unit to quinone would greatly the diminish chloride binding affinity of these receptors. A conformational switch is promoted in the quinone form through the formation of an intramolecular hydrogen bond between the amide and the quinone carbonyl, which blocks the amide binding site. The reversibility of this oxidation process highlighted the potential of these systems for use as redox-switchable receptors. 1H-NMR binding studies confirmed stronger binding capabilities of the hydroquinone form compared to the quinone; however, X-ray crystal structures of the free hydroquinone receptors revealed the presence of an analogous inhibiting intramolecular hydrogen bond in this state of the receptor. Binding studies also revealed interesting and contrasting trends in chloride affinity when comparing the two switch states, which is dictated by a secondary interaction in the binding mode between the amide carbonyl and the hydroquinone/quinone couple. Additionally, the electrochemical properties of the systems have been explored using cyclic voltammetry and it was observed that the reduction potential of the system was directly related to the expected strength of the internal hydrogen bond.