Supramolecular Systems Operating in Lipid Bilayer Membranes

Cell membrane is a complex system with many physical parameters some of which are elusive and impossible to study. One of them is a membrane tension, a cell force occurring in the membrane upon deformation. We envisioned a new concept for the force visualization utilizing compounds operating in the excited state by bending rather than twisting. Additionally, we studied influence of polarizability in combination with bending on the scaffold. It was concluded that this concept can not be applied for the creation of tension reporters and efforts were targeted towards probes operating by twisting as in commercially available compounds. Incorporation of unorthodox interactions, namely s-hole, was shown to improve spectral properties of the molecule. Finally, same supramolecular concept was utilized to design anion transporters across the membrane and catalysts for the epoxide ring-opening reaction which generates polycyclic ether scaffolds - ionophores. This reaction takes place in the lipid bilayer membrane and expels with high rate enhancement - up to 1 million