Description
5-Amino-1MQ, full name 5-amino-1-methylquinolinium, is a low molecular weight quinolinium salt with the cation formula C10H11N2+ and a parent mass of 159.2 g/mol. It is worth saying this clearly because catalogues keep filing it next to GLP-1 analogues and growth hormone secretagogues: 5-Amino-1MQ is not a peptide. There is no amino acid sequence, no SPPS, no disulfide bridges. It is a small organic cation, usually supplied as the chloride or iodide salt, that under bench conditions presents as a hygroscopic crystalline solid.
Where the compound came from
5-Amino-1MQ was identified in an Eli Lilly screening campaign aimed at nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) and then taken up academically by Charles Brenner and colleagues at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge. The first widely cited paper, Neelakantan and co-workers in Biochemical Pharmacology in 2018, described 5-Amino-1MQ as a selective small-molecule inhibitor of NNMT and showed that in cultured adipocytes from obese donors it reduced adipogenic markers and lipid accumulation. That paper is the reason almost every subsequent NNMT inhibitor write-up references this molecule as the tool compound.
Mechanism, in the way labs actually use it
NNMT transfers a methyl group from S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) onto nicotinamide, producing 1-methylnicotinamide and S-adenosyl homocysteine. That single reaction does two awkward things at once. It drains SAM, the universal methyl donor that histone and DNA methyltransferases depend on, and it drains nicotinamide before it can be salvaged back into NAD+. In adipose tissue where NNMT is highly expressed, both pools get pulled down. 5-Amino-1MQ blocks NNMT at the substrate binding site and lets SAM and nicotinamide recover. That is the proposed link to the NAD+ rescue and sirtuin-substrate restoration story you will see in the literature.
Common lab uses
- NNMT enzyme assays, measuring 1-methylnicotinamide formation by LCMS or radiometric SAM transfer, with 5-Amino-1MQ as the positive-control inhibitor for IC50 curves.
- Cellular NAD+ and SAM quantification studies in adipocyte, hepatocyte and cancer cell lines, where the compound is used to test whether NNMT inhibition restores the methyl donor pool.
- Adipocyte differentiation and lipid storage work, often pairing 5-Amino-1MQ with Oil Red O staining or LipidTOX imaging in 3T3-L1 or primary human preadipocytes.
- Sirtuin substrate availability studies, asking whether NAD+ rescue downstream of NNMT inhibition raises SIRT1 or SIRT3 activity in lysates.
- Permeability and PK groundwork, since the compound is small, cationic and has been profiled in PAMPA and Caco-2 assays in the published literature.
Identity and purity
The 5-Amino-1MQ on this listing is supplied as the chloride or iodide salt, lyophilised into an off-white to pale yellow crystalline solid. Lots ship at 98 percent purity or better by reverse-phase HPLC, with mass spectrometry confirming the 159 cation. Each vial leaves with a Certificate of Analysis tied to its lot number. If the CoA does not match the material in your hands we refund the order rather than argue about it.
Handling on the bench
This molecule is hygroscopic, so vials should come out of the freezer, equilibrate to room temperature with the cap on, and only then be opened. Sealed at minus 20 C and kept dry it is stable for years. It dissolves well in water and in polyglycol vehicles such as PEG400, and is usually buffered to a neutral pH for cell work. Stock solutions should be aliquoted to avoid repeated freeze-thaw. Light is not the main enemy here, humidity is.
UK dispatch
UK orders placed Monday to Thursday before the afternoon cut-off ship the same working day in moisture-resistant packaging. Around 90 percent land within 48 hours. If you need gram quantities for an enzyme screening campaign rather than mg vials, message support and you will get a real quote from a person rather than a stacked cart. The same UK-hours team that answers reconstitution questions also handles CoA requests, so there is no escalation maze.
Sold strictly for in vitro laboratory research. Not for human or veterinary use. UK 18+.
