The efficient synthesis of polyunsaturated phospholipids is challengin
g due to the sensitivity of the unsaturated moiety to the conditions e
mployed in phosphate ester deprotection. We discuss here three indepen
dent methods that resolve this issue and enable the synthesis of a ser
ies of unsaturated lysophosphatidic acid mimics for the development of
a more comprehensive understanding of the structure-activity relation
ship in this series. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd