Photocontrol of transmembrane anion transport

Anionic particles play an important role in biological systems where they fulfil many essential functions for cells. Developing artificial anion transporters has received major attention due to their therapeutic potential. However, where the transporter proteins found in nature perform their function in response to environmental stimuli, creating synthetic anion transporters with stimuli-responsive properties has remained a major challenge. In this thesis we aimed to develop new methods to control the activity of anion transporters by light. Several switchable transporters were developed by making use of different molecular photoswitches. With anion transport experiments in lipid membranes it was found that the photoswitches are able to influence many parameters related to the transport process, such as a transporter’s deliverability, ion binding affinity, or mobility. These results help with understanding the behavior of artificial transporters in a membrane, and will be crucial in the future development of stimuli-responsive transport systems.