Elementary plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology (2+1)

Compound lipids

 
• Compound lipids contain certain chemical groups in addition to alcohol and fatty acids.These group of lipids include glycerophospholipids, sphingo phospholipids, glycolipids, sulpholipids and lipoproteins.

Glycerophospholipids

• The important structural lipid in biological membrane is glycero phospholipid which contains glycerol, fatty acids phosphoric acid and a nitrogenous base. The general structure of a glycerophospholipid is given below. Without alcoholic residue (X), it is called as phosphatidic acid.

Depending on the alcoholic residue attached to phosphatidic acid, they are named as

1. Phosphatidyl choline (lecithin)
2. Phosphatidyl ethanolamine (cephalin)
3. Phosphatidyl serine
4. Phosphatidyl inositol
5. Phosphatidyl glycerol (which include monophosphatidyl glycerol and diphosphatidyl glycerol or cardiolipin).