Structure of cerebroside in Aspergillus oryzae

Structural studies on cerebroside isolated from Aspergillus oryzae were carried out using mainly gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The major component fatty acids were 2-hydroxystearic and 2-hydroxy-trans-octadecenoic acid; branched 17?-methyl nonadecasphingadienine isomers were the predominant long-chain bases. The component sugar was only glucose. The structure of the major cerebrosides was assumed to be N-2'-hydroxystearoyl-1-O-glucosyl-17?-methyl sphingadienine and N-2'-hydroxyoctadecenoyl-1-O-glucosyl-17?-methyl sphingadienine.

Fatty acid composition of glycerides and stereospecific analysis of triglyceride in pea seeds

Pea seeds were shown to contain ten kinds of neutral lipids, among which triglyceride, free sterol and sterolester are the main components and diglyceride, monoglyceride, free fatty acid, wax and some pigments are the minor ones. The major component fatty acids in the glycerides and the free fatty acid are C18:2, C18:1 and C16:0. The positional distribution of fatty acids in triglyceride is such that, position 1 and 3, especially the former, abound in saturated fatty acids, and position 2 is filled almost entirely with unsaturated fatty acids.

Isolation of cerebroside from alfalfa leaves

Cerebroside was isolated from alfalfa (Medicago sativa) leaves by solvent extraction, mild alkaline hydrolysis, and silicic acid chromatography. The purified material was identified as cerebroside by thin-layer chromatography, infrared spectrum, and chemical analysis. Hydrolysates of the cerebroside were divided into fractions of fatty acid, sugar, and long-chain base, and analyzed for the respective composition mainly by gas–liquid chromatography. The major component fatty acids were hydroxyhexadecanoic, hydroxydocosanoic, and hydroxytetracosanoic acids. Dehydrophytosphingosine and sphingosine were the predominant constituent long-chain bases. The component sugar was only glucose. Based on the results, one of the major species of alfalfa cerebroside is suggested to be N-hydroxyhexadecanoyl-glucopyranosyl-dehydrophytosphingosine.

Nature of ceramide in bovine milk

Ceramide, an N-acyl derivative of sphingosine bases, has been isolated for the first time from bovine milk in the free form and its constitution studied. Sixteen component fatty acids were found, among which C23:0(38·1%), C24:0(29·5%), C22:0(17·9%) and C16:0(7·2%) were predominant. Seven component long-chain bases were detected. The principal bases were C18-sphingosine (35·0%) and C16-sphingosine (31·6%).