Inspired by glucose-sensitive ion channels, herein we describe a biomimetic glucose-enantiomer-driven ion gate via the introduction of the chiral pillar[6]arene-based host–guest systems into the artificial nanochannels. The chiral nanochannels show a high chiral-driven ionic gate for glucose enantiomers and can be switched “off” by d-glucose and be switched “on” by l-glucose. Remarkably, the chiral nanochannel also exhibited a good reversibility toward glucose enantiomers. Further research indicates that the switching behaviors differed due to the differences in binding strength between chiral pillar[6]arene and glucose enantiomers, which can lead to the different surface charge within nanochannel. Given these promising results, the studies of chiral-driven ion gates may not only give interesting insight for the research of biological and pathological processes caused by glucose-sensitive ion channels, but also help to understand the origin of the high stereoselectivity in life systems.

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In the context of secondary forest succession, aboveground-belowground interactions are known to affect the dynamics and functional structure of plant communities. However, the links between soil microbial communities, soil abiotic properties, plant functional traits in the case of semi-arid and arid ecosystems, are unclear. In this study, we investigated the changes in soil microbial species diversity and community composition, and the corresponding effects of soil abiotic properties and plant functional traits, during a ≥150-year secondary forest succession on the Loess Plateau, which represents a typical semi-arid ecosystem in China. Plant community fragments were assigned to six successional stages: 1–4, 4–8, 8–15, 15–50, 50–100, and 100–150 years after abandonment. Bacterial and fungal communities were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing of the V4 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) region of the rRNA operon, respectively. A multivariate variation-partitioning approach was used to estimate the contributions of soil properties and plant traits to the observed microbial community composition. We found considerable differences in bacterial and fungal community compositions between the early (S1–S3) and later (S4–S6) successional stages. In total, 18 and 12 unique families were, respectively, obtained for bacteria and fungi, as indicators of microbial community succession across the six stages. Bacterial alpha diversity was positively correlated with plant species alpha diversity, while fungal diversity was negatively correlated with plant species diversity. Certain fungal and bacterial taxa appeared to be associated with the occurrence of dominant plant species at different successional stages. Soil properties (pH, total N, total C, NH 4 -N, NO 3 -N, and PO 4 -P concentrations) and plant traits explained 63.80% and 56.68% of total variance in bacterial and fungal community compositions, respectively. These results indicate that soil microbial communities are coupled with plant communities via the mediation of microbial species diversity and community composition over a long-term secondary forest succession in the semi-arid ecosystem. The bacterial and fungal communities show distinct patterns in response to plant community succession, according to both soil abiotic properties and plant functional traits.

Inspired by the light‐regulating capabilities of naturally occurring rhodopsin, we have constructed a visible‐light‐regulated Cl−‐transport membrane channel based on a supramolecular host–guest interaction. A natural retinal chromophore, capable of a visible‐light response, is used as the guest and grafted into the artificial channel. Upon introduction of an ethyl‐urea‐derived pillar[6]arene (Urea‐P6) host, threading or de‐threading of the retinal and selective bonding of Cl− can be utilized to regulate ion transport. Based on the visible‐light responsiveness of the host–guest interaction, Cl− transport can be regulated by visible light between ON and OFF states. Visible‐light‐regulated Cl− transport as a chemical model permits to understand comparable biological ion‐selective transport behaviors. Furthermore, this result also supplies a smart visible‐light‐responsive Cl− transporter, which may have applications in natural photoelectric conversion and photo‐controlled delivery systems.

Chiral recognition as an intrinsic process of life, plays a crucial role in chemical systems, and further forms various architectures in the resulted functional materials. So far, relevant studies were focused on the recognition of chiral molecules. However, weak chiral interactions transformed into macroscopic recognition, for example, for chiral drug droplets, is much more crucial due to its applicability in controlling the drugs' selective delivery and for their enantiomer separation. In this report, chiral calix[4]arene was introduced onto a surface for the selective recognition of (S)-naproxen droplet through host-guest interactions.

Herein, we reported a new strategy based on self-assembly chemistry for chiral discrimination of glucose on a new S-mandelic acid-appended calix[4]arene (S-MC4) modified nanostructure, which exhibits macroscopic chiral preference for d-glucose via contact angle measurements (CA). The proposed macroscopic chiral device displays rapidly remarkable specificity and is convenient to use, which should be suitable for diagnostic purposes, nanomedical applications, etc.

Inspired by the nuclear pore complex (NPC), herein we have established a biomimetic high-flux protein delivery system via the ingenious introduction of pillar [5]arene-based host-guest system into one side of artificial hour-glass shaped nanochannel. With a transport flux of 660 lysozymes per minute, the system provides efficient high-flux protein transport at a rate which is significantly higher than that of an unmodified nanochannel and conventional bilateral symmetrical modified nanochannels. In view of these promising results, the use of artificial nanochannel to improve protein transport not only presents a new potential chemical model for biological research and better understanding of protein transport behavior in the living systems, but also provides a highflux protein transporter device, which may have applications in the design of protein drug release systems, protein separation systems and microfluidics in the near future.

The self-assembly of macroscopic droplets on interfaces has attracted much attention and shown promising potential in the field of materials as a sensing or delivery system. Herein, we reported a new strategy to construct a Dtartaric acid-functionalized pillar[5]arene (D-TP5) interface for macroscopic differentiation of histidine enantiomers. At the molecular level, it has been proved that D-TP5 has the ability to distinguish between L-Histidine and D-Histidine (K L / K D = 4.6). Furthermore, a functional D-TP5 surface was constructed by a click reaction and characterized by contact angle measurements and attenuated total reflection-Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses. The D-TP5 surface exhibited the selective dynamic adhesion of L-His droplets on the tilted interface. It means that a D-TP5 surface can distinguish histidine enantiomers at a macrolevel. The amount of D/L-His absorbed by a D-TP5 surface and the morphology of His particles formed by removing the solvent have been investigated to prove that the self-assembly of His occurs on the D-TP5 surface. The possible mechanism has been discussed from host−guest interaction and chiral recognition. The proposed chiral material displays rapidly remarkable selectivity and is convenient to be utilized, which should be suitable for comprehending chiral recognition processing and applied to chiral recognition detection of histidine in a living body.