Question

Draw a glycerophospholipd containing the following:

a) A C12 saturated fatty acid

b) A C12 omega 4-cis unsaturated fatty acid

c) serine

Answer 1

Glycerophospholipids or phosphoglycerides are glycerol-based phospholipids. They are the main component of biological membranes.

The term glycerophospholipid signifies any derivative of glycerophosphoric acid that contains at least one O-acyl, or O-alkyl, or O-alk-1'- enyl residue attached to the glycerol moiety.

The alcohol here is glycerol, to which two fatty acids and a phosphoric acid are attached as esters. This basic structure is a phosphatidate. Phosphatidate is an important intermediate in the synthesis of many phosphoglycerides. The presence of an additional group attached to the phosphate allows for many different phosphoglycerides.

a) C12 saturated fatty acid.

b) An unsaturated fat is a fat or fatty acid in which there is at least onedouble bond within the fatty acid chain.

A fatty acid chain is monounsaturated if it contains one double bond, and polyunsaturated if it contains more than one double bond.

Omega-4 fatty acids — also called ω-4 fatty acids or n-4 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) with a double bond(C=C) at the third carbon atom from the end of the carbon chain. The fatty acids have two ends, the carboxylic acid (-COOH) end, which is considered the beginning of the chain, thus "alpha", and the methyl (CH₃) end, which is considered the "tail" of the chain, thus "omega." The way in which a fatty acid is named is determined by the location of the first double bond, counted from the methyl end, that is, the omega (ω-) or the n- end.

c) Serine