Highly rigid and geometrically well-defined rods composed of ethynylene-substituted aromatic spacers [oligo(
p-phenyleneethynylene), OPE] were incorporated as acyl moieties on diacylglycerol lactones (DAG-lactones)and investigated for their ability to bind to protein kinase C (PKC) and translocate PKC <
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isoformsto plasma and internal membranes. The kinetics of PKC translocation were correlated with biologicalresponses, viz. ERK phosphorylation, induction of IL-6 secretion, inhibition of cell proliferation, and inductionof cellular attachment, that display very different time courses. Because OPE rods assemble throughnoncovalent forces and form stable films, they may influence the microdomain environment around theDAG-lactone membrane-binding site. A comparison of two DAG-lactones (
1 and
10), one with two PEunits (
1) and the other with an equivalent flexible acyl chain (
10) of matching lipophilicity, clearlydemonstrated the effect of the rigid OPE chain in substantially prolonging the translocated state of bothPKC
and
.