This invention provides a class of therapeutic compounds and methods for the treatment of mammals of physiological disorders, for example a frequently occurring type of essential hypertension, which are associated with the decreased binding of magnesium to the plasma membranes of their cells. These methods consist of administering to a mammal in need of such treatment a compound selected from a series of disubstituted trans,trans-1,3-butadienes, 1,3-perhydrobutadienes, 1,2-disubstituted trans ethylenes, and 1,2-disubstituted ethanes and disubstituted propanes, each of which embodies, in common, the unique structural feature essential for the biological activity of these compounds. This invention also provides for pharmaceutical formulations that employ these novel compounds.