Topic summary
Meta-terphenyl
Extracted from the Wikipedia article M-Terphenyl.
Biochemistry
Meta-terphenyl ligands can be used on their own in the field of biochemistry. Due to its composition and shape, meta-terphenyl can be used as the basis for the formation of synthetic proteins that can bind to carbohydrates, lectins. This is due to the large twisted shape of meta-terphenyl, when not hindered by bulkier substituents used in organometallics and main-group chemistry, which may opt to increase the rotational barrier of the molecule. In this way, synthetic receptors for sugars such as disaccharides can be bound temporarily before being used in further experiments. This process, while it continues to be developed, has many promising applications such as the prevention and treatment of bacterial infections.