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The structure of DHA in phospholipid membranes
Author(s) -
Gawrisch Klaus,
Eldho Nadukkudy V.,
Holte Laura L.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
lipids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.601
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1558-9307
pISSN - 0024-4201
DOI - 10.1007/s11745-003-1082-0
Subject(s) - conformational isomerism , double bond , methylene , molecule , crystallography , chemistry , molecular dynamics , methyl group , nanosecond , solid state nuclear magnetic resonance , picosecond , stereochemistry , computational chemistry , group (periodic table) , nuclear magnetic resonance , organic chemistry , physics , optics , laser
Early experiments and molecular simulations of PUFA favored a rigid arrangement of double bonds in U‐shaped or extended conformations such as angle‐iron or helical. Although results of recent solid‐state NMR measurements and molecular simulations have confirmed the existence of these structural motifs, they portray an image of DHA (22∶6n−3) as a highly flexible molecule with rapid transitions between large numbers of conformers on the time scale from picoseconds to hundreds of nanoseconds. The low barriers to torsional rotation about C‐C bonds that link the cis ‐locked double bonds with the methylene carbons between them are responsible for this unusual flexibility. Both the amplitude and frequency of motion increase toward the terminal methyl group of DHA.