Mitochondrial & Cellular Compounds

Mitochondria-targeted and mitochondrial-derived research compounds, supplied as lyophilised powder for laboratory research use only. Three distinct kinds of molecule sit in this category and they are not variations on one theme.

Mitochondrial-derived peptides

MOTS-c is encoded in the mitochondrial genome rather than the nuclear genome — a 16-residue peptide, MRWQEMGYIFYPRKLR, C₁₀₁H₁₅₂N₂₈O₂₂S₂, about 2,174.6 g/mol, CAS 1627580-64-6. Its mitochondrial origin is the interesting feature: it belongs to a small class of peptides transcribed from mitochondrial DNA, which is a comparatively recent area of the literature.

Note the sequence: two methionines and a tryptophan. That is three oxidation-capable residues in sixteen, so a mass 16 above target is the impurity to expect, and storage discipline matters more here than for a sequence without them.

Mitochondria-targeted synthetic peptides

SS-31 (elamipretide) is a synthetic tetrapeptide — D-Arg-Dmt-Lys-Phe-NH₂, C₃₂H₄₉N₉O₅, about 639.8 g/mol, CAS 736992-21-5. It is not mitochondrially derived; it is designed to accumulate at the inner mitochondrial membrane, where the proposed interaction is with cardiolipin. Its alternating aromatic-cationic pattern is what drives that localisation.

Two of its four residues are non-standard — a D-arginine and a dimethyltyrosine — which means amino-acid analysis after hydrolysis cannot confirm the sequence, because that method cannot distinguish D from L. Identity rests on mass and on the synthesis route. See SS-31 and cardiolipin and what MOTS-c and SS-31 research actually measures.

NAD+, which is not a peptide at all

NAD+ is a dinucleotide coenzyme — C₂₁H₂₇N₇O₁₄P₂, 663.4 g/mol, CAS 53-84-9 — and it is in this category by function rather than by chemistry. Because it is not a peptide, peptide-specific analysis does not apply to it: there is no sequence to confirm, net peptide content is not a meaningful figure, and the relevant purity question is chromatographic separation from its reduced form and its hydrolysis products. It is also supplied in much larger vial masses, 500 mg and 1,000 mg, than anything else on this site. See NAD+ as a coenzyme.

Analysis and handling

Products are third-party tested for HPLC purity; certificates are published on product pages and on the certificates of analysis page, and vials are matched to their certificate by cap and crimp colour. Given the oxidation routes available to two of the three compounds here, read how peptides degrade alongside how HPLC and mass spectrometry verify purity.

Supplied for laboratory research use only. Not approved by the FDA; not manufactured to pharmaceutical GMP standards; not for human or veterinary use.