Tuning Recognition of Biological Anions by Modifying Anionic Recognition Group

Recognizing biological phosphates and their derivatives is critical in understanding the role of these molecules in biological systems and pathways. In this work, we focused on the synthesis of two synthetic receptors that can interact with biological target molecules that possess 1,2-diols and negatively charged components such as phosphates. Both receptors included a boronic acid for 1,2-diol recognition but different anion recognition units; one receptor used guanidinium and the other used urea as the anion recognition unit. The receptors were to another structure that contained only the boronic acid. Binding and selectivity for different biological anions was measured using Alizarin Red S in an indicator displacement screening process