title: Highly permeable artificial water channels that can self-assemble into two-dimensional arrays.
abstract: Bioinspired artificial water channels aim to combine the high permeability and selectivity of biological aquaporin (AQP) water channels with chemical stability. Here, we carefully characterized a class of artificial water channels, peptide-appended pillar[5]arenes (PAPs). The average single-channel osmotic water permeability for PAPs is 1.0(± 0.3) × 10(-14) cm(3)/s or 3.5(± 1.0) × 10(8) water molecules per s, which is in the range of AQPs (3.4 ∼ 40.3 × 10(8) water molecules per s) and their current synthetic analogs, carbon nanotubes (CNTs, 9.0 × 10(8) water molecules per s). This permeability is an order of magnitude higher than first-generation artificial water channels (20 to ∼ 10(7) water molecules per s). Furthermore, within lipid bilayers, PAP channels can self-assemble into 2D arrays. Relevant to permeable membrane design, the pore density of PAP channel arrays (∼ 2.6 × 10(5) pores per μm(2)) is two orders of magnitude higher than that of CNT membranes (0.1 ∼ 2.5 × 10(3) pores per μm(2)). PAP channels thus combine the advantages of biological channels and CNTs and improve upon them through their relatively simple synthesis, chemical stability, and propensity to form arrays.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802;
authors.forename: Yue-Xiao
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Si
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802;
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Erbakan
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801;
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Decker
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115;
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: De Zorzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802;
authors.forename: Patrick O
authors.initials: PO
authors.lastname: Saboe
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802.
authors.forename: You Jung
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802.
authors.forename: Sheereen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Majd
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802.
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Butler
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115;
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Walz
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801;
authors.forename: Aleksei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aksimentiev
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
authors.forename: Jun-li
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802; manish.kumar@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Manish
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D020346:Aquaporins / Q000737:chemistry; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000737:chemistry*; D007477:Ions; D008958:Models, Molecular; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry; D010539:Permeability; D053835:Unilamellar Liposomes / Q000737:chemistry; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D020346:Aquaporins; D007473:Ion Channels; D007477:Ions; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D010455:Peptides; D053835:Unilamellar Liposomes; D014867:Water
keywords: artificial aquaporins; artificial water channels; peptide-appended pillar[5]arene; single-channel water permeability; two-dimensional arrays