β-Apo-13-carotenone is a naturally occurring β-apocarotenoid, and is a RXRα antagonist.

In homogenates of intestinal mucosa of rat, β-apo-13-Carotenone is identified as enzymatic cleavage products of β-carotene. β-apo-13-carotenone is antagonize the activation of RXRα by 9-cis-retinoic acid and is effective at concentrations as low as 1nM. Molecular modeling studies reveal that β-apo-13-carotenone makes molecular interactions like an antagonist of RXRα[1]. β-apo-13-carotenone competes for 9cRA binding to RXRα with an affinity (7–8 nM) identical to 9cRA itself. β-apo-13-carotenone antagonizes 9cRA activation of full-length hRXRα with a similar efficiency as the known antagonist UVI3003. β-apo-13-carotenone induces formation of the RXRα transcriptionally silent tetramer but does not inhibit coactivator recruitment to the isolated LBD[2].