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SUMMARY:Lithium-Selective Ligand Architectures for Controlled Release
LOCATION:Chemistry A101
TZID:America/Denver
DTSTART:20260521T160000
UID:2026-07-23-13-51-13@natsci.colostate.edu
DTSTAMP:20260723T135113
Description:Lithium salts have remained the gold standard pharmacological t
 reatment for bipolar disorder for over seventy years\, yet the mechanistic
  basis of their therapeutic action is unknown. A central barrier to mechan
 istic investigation is the absence of chemical tools capable of delivering
  Li+ with spatial and temporal precision — current dosing is systemic\, 
 providing no means to isolate which biological pathways lithium modulates 
 or when. We propose to address this gap through the design of selective ho
 st molecules that bind lithium and release it on demand using light as a s
 timulus.\n\nThe primary challenge is thermodynamic: Li+ binds water except
 ionally tightly\, and existing macrocyclic host molecules cannot overcome 
 this barrier under biologically relevant conditions. To address this\, we 
 will synthesize a library of crown ether-based hosts and systematically ma
 p the structural features that govern aqueous Li+ binding. The most promis
 ing candidates will be equipped with a photocleavable unit\, enabling ligh
 t-triggered release. This work will provide both a generalizable framework
  for Li+ chelation and the first platform for controlled lithium delivery 
 in biological systems. 4:00 pm
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