CAS 14208-10-7: p-Xylene bis(pyridinium bromide)

1,1?-(1,4-Phenylenebis(Methylene))Bis(Pyridin-1-Ium) Bromide

p-Xylene-bis(N-pyridinium bromide) is a permeabilizing agent that belongs to the class of pyridinium compounds. It has been shown to promote membrane permeabilization, which can be used in the study of membrane interactions. This compound also stabilizes phosphatidylcholine bilayers by replacing the fatty acid tails with hydrophilic amine groups. The stability of these bilayers is increased with an increase in concentration of ethanolamine, which is a cofactor for this reaction. The chemical structure of p-Xylene-bis(N-pyridinium bromide) is similar to that of tryptophan and it has shown fluorescence properties similar to tryptophan. This compound can also fuse lipid monolayers and cell membranes and has been shown to cause fusogenic activity when mixed with lipids.

p-Xylene bis(pyridinium bromide) (compound 21) is a cationic quenching agent and acts as a weak bis-quaternary ammonium salt inhibitor for AChE and BChE, with IC50 values of 1540 μM and 529 μM, respectively.