ABSTRACT
Triacylglycerols (TAGs) are the major storage lipids in cells, eggs, and seeds. They are widely used in foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals as nutrients or matrix materials [1,2]. Structural determination of acylglycerol crystals at an atomic level has critical implications in understanding the structure-function rela tionships of lipids, lipoproteins, fat deposits, and biomembrane lipids, whose nu merous structural data were reviewed recently [3-9]. The molecular structures of TAGs are also related to biochemical reactions in absorption, transport, and metabolism of fat [10]. In addition, physical properties such as polymorphism, melting and solidification, density, and molecular flexibility are influenced by the crystalline phases of the TAGs, as first indicated almost a half-century ago [11,12] and summarized in a review [13] and books [14,15]. Recent work has highlighted that the structural properties of the TAG crystals are sensibly influ enced by molecular properties of TAGs, such as saturation/unsaturation of the fatty acid moieties, glycerol conformations, symmetry/asymmetry of the fatty acid compositions connected to the glycerol groups, etc. [16,17].
