Maximum and minimum values for lecithin classes from various biological sources

Abstract

Lecithins from egg yolk, yeast, bovine lung, bovine livers, and hog livers were analyzed for the fatty acids in the α and β positions after hydrolysis of the fatty acids in the β position with phospholipase A. The maximum and minimum values for the four types of lecithins, viz. (1) disaturated, (2) α-saturated-β-unsaturated, (3) α-unsaturated-β-saturated, and (4) diunsaturated, were calculated for the above five lecithins and many more from data reported by other laboratories. Some of the results from some lecithins suggest that the fatty acids found in the α position may be randomly distributed with those found in the β position.