Aquaporin, forward osmosis and biomimetic membranes.

Aquaporin attracted attention not only of physiologists and biophysicists, but also of chemical engineers. Here we critically analyze a paper describing aquaporin-based artificial membranes, suggested for forward osmosis-based water purification (Wang et al. 2012, Small 8, pp. 1185-1190). Related papers published later by the same group are also discussed. We indicate recently developed general approach to describe membrane transport, membrane permeability and selectivity, which is applicable for forward osmosis. In addition, we also mention our papers describing simple nitrocellulose-based membranes, which have selective aqueous channels without proteins, but successfully imitate many properties of biomembranes.