INFEWS N/P/H2O (SusChEM): Understanding structure and organization of receptors at water interfaces for discovery of phosphate recognition design principles

在这个由化学系高分子、超分子和纳米化学计划资助的项目中，印第安纳大学化学系的Amar Flood教授和俄亥俄州立大学的Heather Allen教授正在了解如何在水中选择性地结合磷酸盐。磷是一种不可再生的资源，也是提高作物产量以帮助养活地球上日益增长的人口的关键营养物质。然而，作为磷酸盐添加到农田中的大量磷随着径流流入小溪和河流而流失。由此导致的磷酸盐在天然水道中的积聚有助于促进藻类大量繁殖，从而杀死所有其他水生生物，可能导致市政供水中的毒素，当进入海洋时，还会导致有毒的海鲜。由于这些原因，开发新的化学方法回收溶解在水中的磷酸盐是很重要的。该项目还包括通过跨学科的研究培训对本科生和研究生进行教育，开发关于关闭人类磷循环的“大挑战”讲座，以及设计新的普通化学课程系列。Flood和Allen教授的目标是通过利用水界面上组织的单层合成受体来了解和发现控制磷识别的因素。这些界面创造了介电常数远低于散装水的强有力的环境，提供了显著增强亲和力的潜力，但人们对这种界面的了解很少。这种界面也是帮助关闭人类磷循环所需的隔离材料的基本模型。这一合作努力涉及一系列受体的合成，当受体在空气-水界面组织时，确定磷酸盐与受体结合的亲和力和选择性，以及确定所产生的磷酸盐结合络合物的几何结构的光谱研究。

In this project funded by the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Amar Flood of the Department of Chemistry at Indiana University and Professor Heather Allen at the Ohio State University are developing an understanding of how to bind phosphate selectively in water. Phosphorous is a non-renewable resource and a critical nutrient for enhancing crop yields to help feed the growing population of the planet. However, a significant amount of the phosphorous that is added as phosphate to agricultural fields is lost as run-off into streams and rivers. The resulting buildup of phosphate in natural waterways helps fuel algal blooms that kill off all other aquatic life, can lead to toxins in the municipal water supplies and, when in the oceans, leads to toxic seafood. For these reasons it is important to develop new chemistries for recovering phosphate dissolved in water. This project also involves the education of undergraduate and graduate students through interdisciplinary research training, the development of "Grand Challenge" lectures on closing the human phosphorous cycle, and the design of a new general chemistry course series.Professors Flood and Allen aim to understand and discover the factors controlling the recognition of phosphate by making use of synthetic receptors organized in monolayers at water interfaces. These interfaces create potent environments with dielectric constants much below bulk water offering the potential to substantially enhance affinities, yet such interfaces are poorly understood. Such interfaces also serve as fundamental models for the sequestration materials needed to help close the human phosphorus cycle. This collaborative effort involves the synthesis of a series of receptors, the determination of the affinity and selectivity of phosphate binding to the receptors when they are organized at air-water interfaces, and spectroscopic studies to ascertain the geometries of the resulting phosphate-bound complexes.