Features:
Colorless needle-like crystals
Melting point---72 ~ 74 ℃
Generally containing two crystal water
Dried under vacuum at 60 ℃
Easy to deliquesce
Stable under neutral conditions (pure malondialdehyde)
Unstable under acidic conditions

It is obtained by condensation of acetaldehyde and ethyl formate under the action of alkali, and can be refined by sublimation under high vacuum. It is mainly used as a raw material for pharmaceutical intermediates and photosensitive pigments. Incompatible with protein, potentially carcinogenic.
In living organisms, free radicals act on lipids to cause peroxidation, and the final oxidation product is malondialdehyde, which can cause cross-linking polymerization of proteins, nucleic acids and other living macromolecules, and is cytotoxic.

Introduction
Lipid oxidation product malondialdehyde (MDA) affects mitochondrial respiratory chain complex and key enzyme activity in mitochondria in vitro.
MDA is one of the most important products of membrane lipid peroxidation, and its production can also aggravate membrane damage. Therefore, MDA content is a commonly used indicator in the study of plant aging physiology and resistance physiology. MDA can be used to understand the degree of membrane lipid peroxidation To indirectly determine the degree of damage to the membrane system and the stress resistance of the plant.
On October 27, 2017, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer published a preliminary list of carcinogens. Malondialdehyde was included in the list of category 3 carcinogens.

Research method
Using different concentrations of MDA to intervene in vitro in rat liver mitochondria, oxygen electrode method was used to detect mitochondrial respiratory control rate (RCR), phosphorus-oxygen ratio (P/O), and to measure respiratory chain complex and α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase, pyruvate The activities of dehydrogenase and malate dehydrogenase. Results: After the mitochondria were treated by MDA, malate/glutamic acid or succinic acid were used as substrates. The two respiratory pathways of mitochondria showed different tolerances to MDA. RCR decreased significantly at /L (P