Conformationally Controllable Amphiphiles and Their Applications in Sensor Design

在有机和高分子化学项目的支持下，赵燕教授将探索生物学核心的构象控制。 许多蛋白质受体和酶的结合和催化功能通过它们受控的构象变化来调节。 因此，能够指导有机分子的构象行为对于基础化学和应用化学以及生物学都是非常重要的。 本研究的重点是生物启发利用疏溶剂相互作用的两亲性折叠体的构象控制。 总体目标是合成具有良好控制的折叠/去折叠行为的两亲性折叠体，并展示其作为一类新型分子传感器的应用。 所提出的折叠体可以由容易获得的材料合成。 它们具有非常不寻常的性质，包括大（1 nm）的亲水性内部空腔，内部官能团的可控分布，纳米尺寸的尺寸，和可调的构象稳定性。 本申请中提出的折叠体将被转化为可以检测金属离子、温度变化或小分子分析物的传感器。 预计拟议的研究将在化学和制药行业产生广泛的影响。 例如，所提出的分子传感器潜在地可用于检测分子种类，包括药物或药物代谢物，或环境应用中的重金属。 此外，拟议的仿生化学提供了很好的培训，研究生和本科生参与研究。 学生将在设计合成结构模仿生物分子的重要技能。 他们还将接触到广泛的研究领域，由于拟议的工作的跨学科性质。

With the support of this award from the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program Professor Yan Zhao will explore conformational control, which is at the heart of biology. The binding and catalytic functions of many protein receptors and enzymes are regulated through their controlled conformational changes. Therefore, being able to guide the conformational behavior of organic molecules is highly important to both fundamental and applied chemistry and biology. This research focuses on the bioinspired utilization of solvophobic interactions for conformational control of amphiphilic foldamers. The overall objective is to synthesize amphiphilic foldamers with well controlled folding/unfolding behavior and demonstrate their applications as a novel class of molecular sensors. The proposed foldamers can be synthesized from readily available materials. They have highly unusual properties including large ( 1 nm) hydrophilic internal cavity, controllable distribution of internal functional groups, nanometer-sized dimension, and tunable conformational stability. The foldamers proposed in this application will be converted into sensors that can detect metal ions, temperature changes, or small-molecule analytes. The proposed research is expected to have several broad impacts in chemical and pharmaceutical industries. For example, the proposed molecular sensors potentially can be used to detect molecular species including drug or drug metabolites, or heavy metals in environmental applications. In addition, the proposed biomimetic chemistry provides excellent trainings to graduate and undergraduate students involved in the research. Students will develop important skills in designing synthetic structures to mimic biological molecules. They will also be exposed to a wide range of research fields due to the interdisciplinary nature of the proposed work.