ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews chemical syntheses of glycerolipids of the types. It presents detailed examples of the experimental methods of preparation of glycerides having different structural features. The chapter also includes experimental procedures for inserting the phosphocholine group into glycerol derivatives by phosphorylation and phosphitylation approaches. Lipid chemists are familiar with problems that arise in chemical syntheses because of the unusual properties of lipids. Such problems include slow reactions caused by steric hindrance in long-chain compounds, solubility incompatibilities in reactions involving a long-chain compound and a polar starting material, and the need for extensive chromatographic procedures. As in other fields of organic synthesis, lipid syntheses that include oxygen-or moisture-sensitive reactions are run in oven-dried or flame-dried glassware under argon or nitrogen atmosphere. Reactions in which polyunsaturated compounds are used are generally run in the presence of antioxidants. Flash chromatography on silica gel is frequently used to purify compounds.
