Figure 1

Chemical structures of glycerophospholipids. Phosphatidyl glycerophospholipids are diacyl lipids in which fatty acids are the substituents at sn-1 and sn-2 and charged bases (PEtn, PCh, PSer or PIn) at sn-3. Ether lipids possess a fatty alcohol at sn-1 and a fatty acid at sn-2. In plasmalogens, the fatty alcohol at sn-1 possesses a desaturation at the first two carbons in the fatty alcohol substitution. Loss of a fatty acid generates the lysophosphatidyl glycerophospholipids, via deacylation at sn-2 of diacyl glycerophospholipids.