However, in the quest to develop effective therapeutic agents, it is important to consider both the deliverability and potency of new ionophores. Paradoxically, highly active transporters often exhibit poor deliverability properties (water solubility) due to the requirement of these compounds to partition into a phopspholipid membrane, necessitating a highly lipophilic design. As a result, precipitation or aggregation can effectively lower the concentration of the these transporters in aqueous, physiologically relevant fluids. Furthermore, highly lipophilic therapeutics can display off-target interactions e.g. with hydrophobic proteins such as albumin, whilst their propensity to form high-molecular-weight-aggregates effectively impedes their diffusion through a-vascular tissue such as hypoxic tumours and bio-films. In order to maximise the therapeutic potential of synthetic ionophores, it is therefore important to understand whether deliverability and water-solubility can be improved whilst retaining ion-transport activity. Strategies to improve the delivery of ionophores to the therapeutic site of action have included encapsulation within synthetic phospholipid vesicles, pro-drug strategies and complexation within water-soluble cyclodextrin macrocycles. However, the development of intrinsically water-soluble transporters would reduce the need for sophisticated delivery strategies, whilst simultaneously simplifying line-of-site to the clinic for synthetic ionophore innovations.