phospholipidn.
/ˌfɒsfə(ʊ)ˈlɪpɪd/, U.S. /ˌfɑsfoʊˈlɪpᵻd/ Biochemistry.
Any lipid containing a phosphate group (and originally also nitrogen); spec. any of a group of amphipathic lipids which have a glycerol or sphingosine backbone, fatty acid side chains, and a phosphate group, and are general components of biological membranes.
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1925 W. R. Bloor in Chem. Rev. 2 244 The modified classification is as follows:..Phospholipides—substituted fats containing phosphoric acid and nitrogen—lecithin, cephalin, sphingomyelin [printed spingomyelin].
1928 G. E. Holm & G. R. Greenbank in Fund. Dairy Sci. (U.S. Bureau Dairy Industry) iii. 70 The lecithins are the best known members of a class of compounds called phospholipids.
1928 Industr. & Engin. Chem. (News ed.) 10 Sept. 3 The Commission [on the Reform of Biological Chemical Nomenclature]..proposes the following classification of the group lipides... Phospholipides are the lipides which contain phosphorus (in the form of the phosphoric radical). Phosphoaminolipides are the lipides which contain both phosphorus..and nitrogen.
1946 Nature 27 July 119/2 These results indicated strongly that the vaccinia and ectromelia hæmagglutinins were composed of a virus antigen plus a phospholipid component, the latter being responsible for union with the surface of the cell.
1971 M. F. Mallette et al. Introd. Biochem. ix. 321 The phospholipids can be defined as those lipids which contain phosphate esters of acylated glycerol..or sphingosine.
2001 Dressage June 24/3 Some Connemara ponies cannot incorporate phospholipids into their hoof horn, which leads to chronic horn infections.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1925