  Though 1-alkanols are well known to have anesthetic properties, the mode of
operation remains enigmatic. We perform extensive atomistic molecular dynamics
simulation to study the partitioning of 1- alkanols of different chain-lengths
in raft-like model membrane made up of mixture of unsaturated
dioleoyl-phosphatidylcholine (DOPC) and saturated
dipalmitoyl-phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and choles- terol (Chol) exhibiting
phase coexistence of liquid-ordered (lo) - liquid disordered (ld) phase
domains. Our simulation shows that the effect of 1-alkanols on the mechanical
properties of the membrane has been pronounced with the chain-length of it. In
particular, the 1-alkanols prefer to partition in the ld phase domain. The
penetration of the 1-alkanols in the membrane increases significantly for the
long-chain alkanol. We also have found the dependency of the order of chains of
the lipids and rigidity of the membrane on the 1-alkanols.
