Enantioselective sensing and separation are major challenges. Nanochannel technologies are energy-saving and efficient for membrane separation. Herein, inspired by biological antiporter proteins, artificial nanochannels with antiporter behavior were fabricated for chiral sensing and separation. Tyrosine enantiomers were incorporated into hourglass-shaped nanochannels via stepwise modifications to fabricating multiligand-modified asymmetric channels. Chiral distinction of naproxen enantiomers was amplified in the l-Tyr/d-Tyr channels, with an enantioselectivity coefficient of 524, which was over 100-fold that of one-ligand-modified nanochannels. Furthermore, transport experiments evidenced the spontaneous antiport of naproxen enantiomers in the l-Tyr/d-Tyr channels. The racemic naproxen sample was separated via the chiral antiport process, with an enantiomeric excess of 71.2%. Further analysis using electro-osmotic flow experiments and finite-element simulations confirmed that the asymmetric modified multiligand was key to achieving separation of the naproxen enantiomers. We expect these multiligand-modified asymmetric nanochannels to provide insight into mimicking biological antiporter systems and offer an approach to energy-efficient and robust enantiomer separation.

Chiral discrimination has gained much focus in supramolecular chemistry, since it is one of the fundamental processes in biological systems, enantiomeric separation and biochemical sensors. Though most of the biochemical...

Chloride transport participates in a great variety of physiological activities, such as regulating electrical excitability and maintaining acid–base equilibrium. However, the high flux is the prerequisite to ensure the realization of the above functions. Actually, the high flux of ion transport is significant, not only for living things but also for practical applications. Herein, inspired by chloride channel (ClC) protein, a novel NH2-pillar­[5]­arene functionalized funnel-shaped nanochannel was designed and constructed. The introduction of functional molecules changed surface charge property and endowed the nanochannel with Cl– selectivity, which facilitated Cl– transport. Moreover, by adjusting the asymmetric degree of the nanochannel, the Cl– transport flux can be improved greatly. The successful construction of an artificial ion channel with high flux will be much useful for practical applications like microfluidic devices, sensors, and ion separation.

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.

An artificial pyrophosphate (PPi) selectively activated nanochannel has been successfully constructed via introducing calix[4]arene receptors into a biomimetic nanochannel.

A novel photo-responsive surface was constructed by modifing azobenzene-calix[4]arene (ABC4) on a microstructured silicon surface. Asymmetric UV light irradiation can drive the macroscopic directional motion of water droplet on this...

A novel class of six different triaryl pyridine N-glycosylamine amphiphiles was synthesised and characterized based on different spectral techniques, such as NMR and mass analysis. Gelation properties in different aromatic and aliphatic solvents were studied and gelation was observed predominantly in aliphatic solvents with CGC of 0.5% (w/v) and is attributed to the presence of long alkyl chain. All the gels thus obtained were studied using FE-SEM and powder XRD techniques which reveal fibrous entanglement of the molecules in the gel state with intermolecular spaces of 3.62 nm and 0.43 nm.

The separation of racemic compounds by chiral nanochannels has attracted extensive attention. However, the fabrication of high-performance chiral nanochannels is still a challenge owing to the difficulty in magnifying the weak chiral interaction to macroscopic properties of materials. Herein, by introducing a l-alanine-pillar­[5]­arene host to achiral ordered mesoporous silica (OMS), chiral OMS nanochannels were fabricated, which exhibited excellent selectivity (ee value up to 90.2%) to separate racemic drugs with promising reusability and stability. Besides, it was identified that enantioselective separation took place through a molecular-recognition-adsorbed transport mechanism. This work highlights the great potential of chiral OMS nanochannels as a platform for enantioselective separation.