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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

A Model Membrane Platform for Reconstituting Mitochondrial Membrane Dynamics
Published on: September 2, 2020
Synthesis of a glycolipid for studying mechanisms of mitochondrial uncoupling proteins
Sebastien G Gouin1, Wayne Pilgrim, Richard K Porter
1Centre for Synthesis and Chemical Biology, Department of Chemistry, Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, University College Dublin, Ireland.
Abstract:
Glucose-O-omega-palmitic acid is an amphipathic molecule that is useful as a tool for studying the mechanism of mitochondrial uncoupling proteins. The synthesis of this glycolipid is described herein. The study of the reaction of a series of glycosyl donors with appropriate acceptors derived from 16-hydroxyhexadecanoic acid showed that a glycosyl trichloroacetimidate donor was more efficient than thioglycoside, glycosyl halide and glycosyl acetate donors for synthesis of this glycolipid.
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