Glycoglycerolipids

GLYCOLIPIDS BASED ON GLYCEROL

These lipids consist of a mono- or oligosaccharide moiety linked glycosidically to the hydroxyl group of glycerol which may be acylated (or alkylated) with one or two fatty acids. Furthermore, these glycolipids may be uncharged and, therefore often called neutral glycoglycerolipids, or may contain a sulfate or a phosphate group. Glycoglycerolipids are mainly distributed in the realm of micro-organisms and plants,

The last IUPAC recommendations for the nomenclature of glycolipids may be found on the IUPAC site.

According to their structure they may be classified into the following groups:

Neutral glycoglycerolipids 

 Glycophospholipids 

 Sulfoglycoglycerolipids