Chapter 2
Recent Methods for the Elucidation
of Lipid Structure
R. A. KLEIN
Medical Research Council
Molteno Institute
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, England
and
P. KEMP
Agricultural Research Council
Institute of Animal Physiology
Cambridge, England
1. INTRODUCTION
The first essentially correct structure for a phosphatidylcholine was pub-
lished by Strecker in 1868. Indeed the structure shown corresponds, perhaps
fortuitously, to the single molecular species l-palmitoyl-2-0Ieoyl-3-sn-
glyceryl-phosphorylcholine. The precise position of the two fatty acids
was still under debate 90 years later (Tattrie, 1959; Hanahan et al., 1960;
de Haas et al., 1960; de Haas and van Deenen, 1961). This was a truly
remarkable achievement, given that Strecker possessed none of the highly
sensitive or selective analytical methods currently available.
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E. D. Korn (ed.), Methods in Membrane Biology
© Plenum Press, New York 1977