Lipid methodology — chromatography and beyond. Part II. GC/MS, LC/MS and specific enzymic hydrolysis of glycerolipids

The combination of specific enzymic degradation with GC/MS or LC/MS identification and quantitation of enantiomeric diacylglycerols and reverse isomers has greatly improved the methods of structural analysis of triacylglycerols, so that in many instances complete characterization of both major and minor species is possible. The techniques described for the analysis of triacylglycerols and sn‐1,2‐ and sn‐2,3‐diacylglycerols are also applicable to the X‐1,3‐diacylglycerols and X‐1‐monoacylglycerols following coversion to triacylglycerols by acylation with appropriate fatty acids. For many applications, however, a combination of specific enzymic hydrolysis with a GLC analysis of the products on polar capillary columns may be adequate for the identification and quantitation of the major molecular species of both triacylglycerols and diacylglycerols.