Kinetic-based supramolecular discrimination of clinically significant analytes

Supramolecular chemists have constructed macrocyclic structures called “hosts” that can selectively encapsulate a small molecule “guest.” Selective recognition is instrumental when trying to take host-guest chemistry to the real world. Drug detection, reversal, and delivery are growing applications for host-guest chemistry. However, things become complicated in biological systems due to the presence of salts that can perturb binding. Consequently, most hosts have poor performance in biofluids. Ultra-high affinity hosts whose binding strength is seemingly unaffected by salts overcome this limitation. However, they tend to be promiscuous and have similar binding strength to similar guests, making selective recognition challenging. This project aims to show that selective recognition can be achieved for an ultra-high affinity host in biofluids. By looking at the kinetics (speed) rather than the thermodynamics (strength) we hope to provide fundamental knowledge of kinetic discrimination of these promiscuous hosts. An ultra-high affinity host that can operate in biofluids and be utilized for analyte distinction would have vast applications in healthcare.

Faculty Supervisor:

Fraser Hof

Student:

Partner:

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie

Discipline:

Physics

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Victoria

Program: