Phosphorus, in the form of phosphate, is essential to all life on planet earth. Phosphorus is not only an indispensable structural component of nucleic acids and cell membranes but also vital to teeth and bone formation in all vertebrates. However, there is an emerging urgency surrounding phosphorus sustainability resulting from depleted phosphate rock resources. Added to this is the loss of phosphate fertilizer from agricultural usage that also feeds algae blooms and ‘dead zones’ in lakes and oceans. To lay a foundation for sensing and recovery of phosphate, we need to develop artificial receptors to recognize phosphate selectively. However, phosphate recognition is inhibited by its large dehydration penalty and low binding selectivity over other anions. Herein, we use a family of simple receptors to discover new modes of phosphate recognition at receptor-water interfaces, which promise huge enhancements to binding affinity relative to bulk water but is largely under-investigated. By varying molecular size, charges, and anchors, various receptors bearing guanidinium binding motifs are disigned to discover phosphate recognition principles at air-water interfaces. The binding properties of receptors with phosphate at interfaces is investigated by measuring surface pressure-mean molecular area isotherms and using infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy. At air-water interfaces, our central hypotheses are that phosphate affinity and selectivity is enhanced, and that these interfaces provide new environments to discover bioinspired design principles.<br/>

Discovery of design principles for phosphate recognition at water interfaces

255th National Meeting (2018)

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