Abstract
Bicarbonate anion ($HCO_3{^-}$) takes the role of major buffer systems in our body by maintaining the pH at 7.4. Epithelial $HCO_3{^-}$ secretion also hydrolyzes the mucus which protects body from noxious infections. It has been widely known that such infections are closely related to $HCO_3{^-}$ permeability through membrane and, thus, increasing the $HCO_3{^-}$ permeability is essential. To evaluate the $HCO_3{^-}$ permeability through ion channels, the free energy changes relevant to ion pumping are calculated with the Integral Equation Formalism-PCM (IEF-PCM) theory. Molecular structures of various anions including $HCO_3{^-}$ were optimized with the density functional theory at the level of B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) in gas and solution phase. In addition, the anion permeability is significantly influenced by the relative size of the anion and pore. We introduce a shifted volume factor model that describes the pore size effect when the charged solutes transfer through ion channels. We found excellent agreement between experimental and calculated permeability when our novel model of the size effect was taken into account to.