Structure-Activity Relationships in Cholapod Anion Carriers: Enhanced Transmembrane Chloride Transport through Substituent Tuning

B. A. McNally, A. V. Koulov, T. N. Lambert, B. D. Smith, J. B. Joos, A. L. Sisson, J. P. Clare, V. Sgarlata, L. W. Judd, G. Magro, A. P. Davis*

Chem. Eur. J. 2008, 14, 9599

Abstract

Chloride transport by a series of steroid-based “cholapod” receptors/carriers was studied in vesicles. The principal method involved preincorporation of the cholapods in the vesicle membranes, and the use of lucigenin fluorescence quenching to detect inward-transported Cl−. The results showed a partial correlation between anion affinity and transport activity, in that changes at the steroidal 7 and 12 positions affected both properties in concert. However, changes at the steroidal 3-position yielded irregular effects. Among the new steroids investigated the bis-p-nitrophenylthiourea 3 showed unprecedented activity, giving measurable transport through membranes with a transporter/lipid ratio of 1:250 000 (an average of <2 transporter molecules per vesicle). Increasing transporter lipophilicity had no effect, and positively charged steroids had low activity. The p-nitrophenyl monourea 25 showed modest but significant activity. Measurements using a second method, requiring the addition of transporters to preformed vesicle suspensions, implied that transporter delivery was problematic in some cases. A series of measurements employing membranes of different thicknesses provided further evidence that the cholapods act as mobile anion carriers.