Structure formation in low-concentrated solutions of cholesterol and ergosterol

Abstract

The conformational behavior of biologically important chiral molecules of cholesterol and ergosterol was studied via the method of molecular dynamics. The formation of strings and their absence was experimentally observed in methanol solutions of cholesterol and ergosterol, respectively. It was shown that the intermolecular dynamics of the molecule significantly affects the possibility of structure formation. We proposed an alternative explanation of the functional significance of cholesterol, which is apparently associated with the formation of commutation structures outside the membrane, and the biological feasibility of the presence of ergosterol in the non-commuting cells of fungi and cholesterol in the commuting cells of macroorganisms.