ABSTRACT
Phospholipidsrepresentabroadrange.ofcompoundsthatplayanumberofkey rolesinmammalianandnonmammaliancellularsystems.Naturalphospholipids canbesubdividedintoglycerophospholipidsandsphingophospholipids.While bothgroupsareimportantfromabiochemicalpointofview,theglycerophospholipidshaveacquiredmuchgreatercommercialsignificance,especiallyinthe foodindustrywheretheyarewidelyusedasemulsifiers.Inthepersonalandhealth carefields,however,useofcommercialglycerophospholipidshasbeenlimitedby anumberofdrawbackssuchascolorinstability,formulatingdifficulties,inhibition ofpreservativesystems,andthehighcostofpurifiedphospholipidfractions. Commercialphospholipidscanbederivedfromanimalorvegetablesources,but fromapracticalstandpoint,mostphospholipidsinusetodayarederivedfrom soybeanoilandaremostoftendescribedgenericallyaslecithins(1).Recently,a newclassofphospholipidshasbeendeveloped.Theseproductshavebeendescribedasbiomimetic,inthattheymimicstructurallyandfunctionallythenatural phospholipids(2).Thischapterwillfocusonthestructuralfeaturesofthenatural andbiomimeticphospholipids,theirapplicationsinpersonalcareproducts,and theiruseinself-preservedproducts.
