A rapid method for the separation of the individual phospholipid class
es phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatid
ylserine (PS) and phosphatidylinositol (PI) by a single solid-phase ex
traction was developed. PC, PE, PS and PI were sequentially eluted fro
m aminopropyl bonded silica with acetonitrile/n-propanol (2:1, vol/vol
), methanol, isopropanol/methanolic HCl (4:1, vol/vol) and methanol/me
thanolic HCl (9:1, vol/vol). Standard recoveries were over 95% for PC
and PE and over 85% for PS and PI with undistorted fatty acid composit
ion. The separation of complex lipid mixtures on aminopropyl minicolum
ns can be refined to the level of individual phospholipid classes.