Tris-ureas as transmembrane anion transporters

Abstract

Nine tris-urea receptors (L¹–L⁹) have been synthesised and shown to coordinate to a range of anionic guests both by ¹H NMR titration techniques and single crystal X-ray structural analysis. The compounds have been shown to be capable of mediating the exchange of chloride and nitrate and also chloride and bicarbonate across POPC or POPC : cholesterol 7 : 3 vesicle bilayer membranes at low transporter loadings. An interesting dependency of anion transport on the nature of the cation is evidence to suggest that a M⁺/Cl⁻ cotransport process may also contribute to the release of chloride from the vesicles.