PHASES AND PHASE-TRANSITIONS OF THE GLYCOGLYCEROLIPIDS

LIPIDAT is a computerized database providing access to the wealth of i nformation scattered throughout the literature concerning synthetic an d biologically derived polar lipid polymorphic and mesomorphic phase b ehavior. The database is considered comprehensive for glycerophospholi pids, glycoglycerolipids, sphingolipids and natural membrane extracts. Here, a review of the LIPIDAT data subset referring to glycoglyceroli pids is presented together with an analysis of these data. The glycogl ycerolipids subset represents 4% of all LIPIDAT records. It includes d ata collected over a 20-year period and consists of 419 records obtain ed from 37 articles in 13 journals. An analysis of the data in the sub set has allowed us to identify trends in hydrated glycoglycerolipids p hase behavior reflecting differences in hydrocarbon chain length, chai n branching, chain-glycerol linkage type (ether vs. ester), sugar head group-glycerol linkage type (alpha vs. beta) and sugar headgroup ident ity. Included is a summary of the data concerning the effect of pH and of stereochemical purity on glycoglycerolipid phase behavior. Informa tion on the mesomorphism of biologically derived and dry glycoglycerol ipids is also presented. This review includes 92 references.