Reinforcing effect of bi- and tri-cyclopolyprenols on 'primitive' membranes made of polyprenyl phosphates

Cholesterol plays the role of membrane reinforcer in eukaryotes, whereas hopanoids play the same role in bacteria. Which components could have reinforced 'primitive' membranes? We describe here an efficient biomimetic synthesis of bi- and tri-cyclopolyprenols and demonstrate that these compounds reinforce the membranes of polyprenyl phosphate, which we speculated as 'primitive' membranes.