Biomimetic nanochannels platform for detecting N-acetylglucosamine analogues

Abstract N-acetylglucosamine analogues exist in nature as an important saccharide in human body and can regulate a variety of life activities captured through biological nanochannels. Herein we describe a biomimetic strategy via supramolecular host-guest chemistry for constructing artificial nanochannels to detect N-acetylglucosamine analogues. The functional nanochannels exhibited a high selectivity and good reversibility towards N-acetylglucosamine. Further studies indicate that the detecting behaviors was probably due to the multiple hydrogen bonding interactions and an appropriately fitting the functional and geometric requirements between the tryptophan-decorated pillararenes and N-acetylglucosamine, leading to the change of the surface charge and wettability within the nanochannels. These studies can give interesting insight for the research of biological processes caused by N-acetylglucosamine-sensitive ion channels, and also help to develop the platform for detecting N-acetylglucosamine in vitro.