Interface engineering of synthetic pores: towards hypersensitive biosensors.

Hydrophilic anchoring is introduced as a promising strategy to constructively control the various interactions of synthetic pore sensors with the surrounding biphasic environment. Artificial rigid-rod beta barrels are selected as classical synthetic multifunctional pores and random-coil tetralysines are attached as hydrophilic anchors. The synthesis of this advanced pore is accomplished in 32 steps from commercially available starting materials.