Acylthioureas as anion transporters

What is it about?

This paper shows the effect of intramolecular hydrogen bonding on the effectiveness of small molecule lipid bilayer anion transporters. The intramolecular hydrogen bonding effectively increases the lipophilicity of the transporters so improving their transport efficiency.

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Why is it important?

When naturally occurring anion transport processes are defective, a number of diseases (channelopathies) are known to result, including cystic fibrosis. There is a growing interest in the development of small molecular carriers for anions due to the hypothesis that they may serve as therapeutic replacements for defective transport proteins for the treatment of channelopathies or as tools for physiologists to study these conditions.