Literature Survey - Electrospray-Ionization Mass Spectrometry of Lipids - up to the year 2004


Electrospray-ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry is now in all probability the most popular technique for non-volatile lipids, such as triacylglycerols, phospholipids and glycolipids. Because of the popularity of the technique we have had to split the survey into two parts - the second one from 2005 onwards. It can give a great deal of invaluable information, including the nature of any polar head group, molecular species composition and regiospecific distributions of fatty acids on the glycerol backbone. The technique can be married to high performance liquid chromatography, or samples can be introduced directly into the source via a micro-syringe pump.

The following references were collected as part of our regular literature reviews for our own research purposes. We cannot claim to have covered the subject exhaustively, but we have done our best. References are listed alphabetically by the first author of a paper, but not necessarily chronologically by that author. New references may be added at irregular intervals - check the bottom of the page for when it was last updated.


W.W. Christie

Scottish Crop Research Institute (and MRS Lipid Analysis Unit), Invergowrie, Dundee (DD2 5DA), Scotland

Lipid Library