Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	EP/M008258/1
Title:	Dynamically Adaptive Metal-organic Nanopores
Principal Investigator:	Nitschke, Professor JR
Other Investigators:	Keyser, Professor UF
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:	Oxford Instruments Nanoanalysis
Department:	Chemistry
Organisation:	University of Cambridge
Scheme:	Standard Research
Starts:	23 March 2015	Ends:	31 January 2019	Value (£):	604,939
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Chemical Synthetic Methodology Physical Organic Chemistry
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Chemicals
Related Grants:
Panel History:	Panel Date Panel Name Outcome 23 Jul 2014 EPSRC Physical Sciences Chemistry - July 2014 Announced
Summary on Grant Application Form
We propose to prepare and study a new class of synthetic ion channels based on dynamic metal-organic complexes that possess a pore-like central channel that will allow for substrate transport across a lipid bilayer. These complexes are obtained through the condensation of simple organic building blocks around octahedral metal ion templates. The modular nature of these complexes and the dynamic nature of their imine bonds will allow us to tune the assemblies to confer different physical properties upon them, while retaining their overall structures. Through tuning we will identify the key characteristics of complexes that can be inserted into lipid bilayers. This project builds upon preliminary investigations that have shown that heptyl-chain-bearing derivatives allowed chloride ions to pass across a membrane, providing a point of departure for our investigations. In other key precedent work we established that it is possible to induce reconstitution of the complexes into entirely different structures in the presence of different templating anions. We will investigate ways to exploit this phenomenon as an approach to controlling flux across a membrane by reversibly triggering reconstitution to form complexes that do not possess central channels, thus inhibiting ion transport. Development of these tuneable, gating ion channels will pave the way to new industrial processes that are driven by the effective separation of high value compounds from impure mixtures, and new chemical transformations involving the selective gating of intermediate species between vesicular reaction chambers. In future, our technologies may also facilitate new treatments for those who suffer from forms of channelopathy.
Key Findings
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Further Information:
Organisation Website:	http://www.cam.ac.uk