A potent squaramide-based anion transporter was used to evaluate how vesicles prepared with tailored lipid compositions, which mimic organelle membranes, can impact transmembrane transport. Using…

Designing molecular receptors that bind anions in water is a significant challenge, and an even greater difficulty lies in using these receptors to remove anions from water without resorting to the ha...

A potent squaramide-based anion transporter was used to evaluate how vesicles prepared with tailored lipid compositions, which mimic organelle membranes, can impact transmembrane transport. Using HPTS...

Ryder et al. report the first subcellular targeted anion transporters that accumulate in specific membrane-bound organelles to bias their natural propensity to depolarize lysosomes. Confocal microscopy revealed the ability of the naphthalimide-based transporters to localize within their intended organelles. Analogs that contained endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and lysosomal targeting motifs showed an enhanced H+/Cl− transport ability and cytotoxicity compared with non-targeted analogs. Moreover, lysosomal accumulation improved cancer cell selectivity, while ER and mitochondrial localization enhanced apoptosis in cancerous cells.