From Supramolecular to Covalent Boron Clusters Membrane Carriers (CONNECT)

From Supramolecular to Covalent Boron Clusters Membrane Carriers 

Conceptually new synthetic membrane transporters constitute a key challenge for supramolecular chemistry and materials sciences. To date, the transport of hydrophilic bioactive substances across membranes has exploited the amphiphilic character of carriers and cargos. However, amphiphilic molecules face limitations such as toxicity and their tendency to aggregate. Recently, it was described that superchaotropic boron clusters can transport a range of hydrophilic chemical substances across lipid membranes and inside cells. Nevertheless, until now, boron clusters have only been used as non-covalent carriers of the cargo of interest.

Overall, this project is aimed to investigate, for the first time, the covalent introduction of superchaotropic substituents into prototype peptide sequences and evaluate their potential to be self-transported across membranes. This new application of chaotropic cluster will impact the field of membrane transport by using more controllable, non-aggregating and less toxic synthetic vehicles.