1.D.168. The Proton-conducting Quinoline-derived Nanopore (PQNP) Family

A unimolecular transmembrane proton channel can be formed by a quinoline-derived helix, which exhibits highly selective and ultrafast proton transport behavior. This helix-based channel possesses a small luminal cavity of 1 Å in diameter, which can efficiently reject the permeation of cations, anions and water molecules while permiting the translocation of protons due to a size effect. The single proton channel flow rate exceeded 10⁷ H⁺/sec. Mechanistic investigations revealed that the directionally arrayed NH-chain inside the synthetic channel played a pivotal role during proton fluxes (Yan et al. 2021).

References:

Yan, T., S. Liu, J. Xu, H. Sun, S. Yu, and J. Liu. (2021). Unimolecular Helix-Based Transmembrane Nanochannel with a Smallest Luminal Cavity of 1 Å Expressing High Proton Selectivity and Transport Activity. Nano Lett 21: 10462-10468.