Gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry of phospholipid mixtures after enzymic hydrolysis

Gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (GLC-MS), employing an open-tubular Silanox-type glass column, has been applied to the products of phospholipase C hydrolysis of natural and synthetic phospholipid mixtures. The materials studied were egg lysolecithin, synthetic L-alpha-l-stearoyl-2-oleoyl lecithin, bovine brain sphingomyelin, and phospholipids derived from human arterial tissue. l-Monoglycerides and ceramides were analysed as methaneboronates, and 1,2-diglycerides as trimethylsilyl ethers. The results indicate the potential value of open-tubular GLC-MS in a rapid procedure for the concurrent analysis of the major classes or polar lipids after enzymic dephosphorylation.