Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are essential dietary fats that have been proposed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular and auto-immune diseases, arthritis and cancer. PUFA containing phospholipids however are highly susceptible to oxidative stress which causes significant structural and functional damage to cellular membranes. One of the body¿s mechanisms to counteract oxidative stress is to employ antioxidants that inhibit the oxidation of phospholipids in cellular membranes. The antioxidant mechanism of phloretin, a polyphenolic antioxidant is unknown therefore investigating the position of phloretin in both an oxidised and non-oxidised PUFA containing membrane will be the first step toward revealing its mechanism. Neutron diffraction from semi-crystalline multibilayer stacks using recently synthesized deuterated phloretin will provide high resolution structural information.
