Methodology for the separation o plant lipids and application to spinach leaf and chloroplast lamellae

Abstract Procedures for separation of complex plant lipids and results obtained are reviewed. Procedures based on DEAE cellulose and silicic acid chromatography, which may be preceded by countercurrent distribution, are presented for separation of the individual glyceroland sphingolipid classes of spinach leaf and chloroplast lamellae. These procedures appear to be generally applicable to photosynthetic tissue of plants and algae. The separation and infrared spectra of mono‐and digalactosyl diglycerides, lecithin, phosphatidyl ethanolamine, phosphatidyl glycerol, phosphatidyl inositol, plant sulfolipid, cerebroside, and sterol glycosides from spinach are recorded. Chloroplast lamellae lipids are in the molar ratio monogalactosyl diglyceride (14.0), digalactosyl diglyceride (8.0), phosphatidyl glycerol (5.5), sulfolipid (3.9), lecithin (2.0), phosphatidyl inositol (1.0). Phosphatidyl ethanolamine, cerebrosides, and sterol glycosides were not detected in chloroplast lamellae. Fatty acid composition of individual lamellae lipids have been determined: The galactosyl lipids contain more than 90% trienoic acids. Trans ‐3‐ hexadecenoic acid is restricted almost exclusively to phosphatidyl glycerol. In this report techniques which have been applied to the isolation of plant glycero‐ and sphingolipids are reviewed and a new scheme presented for the separation of several of the plant lipid classes. Results obtained with spinach leaf and its photosynthetic apparatus are presented and discussed.