Figure 1.

Chemical synthesis of the propofol-docosahexaenoic acid (propofol-DHA) conjugate. Synthesis was performed in two steps. First, docosahexaenoic acid anhydride (DHA-anhydride) was synthesized with a coupling reagent, N,N-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC); subsequently, conjugation of propofol with DHA was performed in the presence of 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP).