We prove that for an odd prime p, the derived category D(KU (p) ) of the p-local complex periodic K-theory spectrum KU (p) is triangulated equivalent to the derived category of its homotopy ring π * KU (p) . This implies that if p is an odd prime, the triangulated category D(KU (p) ) is algebraic.The derived category of complex periodic K-theory localized at an odd primeThe category D(R) has the important extra structure of a triangulated category. The triangulated structure comes from the mapping cone sequences (distinguished triangles)and in particular encodes how the objects of D(R) are built out of R using suspensions, desuspensions and cell attachments. Similarly, the derived category D(π * R) together with the algebraic mapping cone sequences is a triangulated category (see Subsection 2.2 for the details). The question arises whether the equivalence D(R) ∼ D(π * R) preserves the triangulated structures. More specifically, we are interested whether the equivalence D(KU ) ∼ D(π * KU ) is compatible with the distinguished triangles. In order to be able to formulate these questions more precisely, we recall some terminology:Definition. Let T 1 and T 2 be triangulated categories. A triangulated equivalence between T 1 and T 2 is an equivalence of categoriesHo(M) is called distinguished (or exact ) if it isomorphic to an elementary distinguished triangle in Ho(M). Example 2.2.1. For any ring k, the category Ch(k) of unbounded chain complexes of k-modules with the projective model structure is a stable model category [19, 2.3.11]. The weak equivalences and fibrations in this model structure are quasi-isomorphisms (i.e., homology isomorphisms) and degreewise epimorphisms, respectively.