Introducing ligand-based hydrogen bond donors to a receptor: both selectivity and binding affinity for anion recognition in water can be improved.

Introducing hydrogen bond donors to a receptor was found to be an effective approach to improve both its selectivity and binding affinity for pyrophosphate in water. The crystal structure of Zn3-ADP complex showed the improvements come from the combination of H-bonding and metal coordination in a manner similar to many metalloenzymes.