Category: pharmacological
Aliases: 2,4-dinitrophenol, 2-4-dinitrophenol, DNP, Dinitrophenol
A lipophilic protonophore that uncouples mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation — shuttling protons across the inner membrane collapses the electrochemical gradient, so substrate oxidation continues but ATP synthesis does not and the energy dissipates as heat. This drives a large rise in metabolic rate and fat oxidation (the basis of its illicit fat-loss use) but the same mechanism produces uncontrolled hyperthermia. DNP has no antidote and no therapeutic window — effective and lethal doses overlap, and its long persistence has caused many fatalities.
PO: 18h
PubChem CID 1493. Protonophore, not a receptor ligand (no occupancy). The illicit weight-loss dose overlaps the lethal range. PK: an acute-overdose case (PMID:41249632) verbatim "demonstrating first order kinetics with a half-life of 18 h"; the commonly cited "~36 h" is not abstract-verifiable (see AUTHORING_GAPS).