ABSTRACT
The resin is usually first converted to the acetate form. Neutral lipids are then eluted with, say, chloroform–methanol–water, 30:60:8 by volume followed by anionic glycolipids, when the water in the eluent is replaced by 0.8 M aqueous sodium acetate. Glycosylglycerides are major lipid components of the photosynthetic membranes of higher plants and of algae. Chloroplast membranes of higher plants contain about 40% of a mixture of mono- and digalactosyldiacylglycerols. Liberation of fatty acids as their methyl esters for individual quantitation is best achieved by treatment with sodium methoxide, methanolic hydrogen chloride or boron trifluoride in methanol. A group of compounds exist in some Gram-positive bacteria that contain one or more monosaccharide residues linked through phosphate to diacylglycerol. These phosphoglycolipids are membrane bound, present in relatively small amounts and of unknown function. Lipoteichoic acids are found also in the membranes of some of this group of micro-organisms.
