Calculations of the Hydrophobicity of Lipid Molecules by the Elution Strength of the Chromatographic Solvent

Abstract

The values of the relative polarity and hydrophobicity of the main classes of acyl-containing glycerolipids are calculated. These values, obtained using standard values of the elution strength of solvents (from n-hexane to water), can belong to scales of relative polarity and hydrophobicity, including a variety of organic compounds of natural origin. It is proposed to use n-hexadecane and water as conditional boundaries of both of these scales, covering a range from 0 to 100. Variations in the averaged levels of the relative polarity of individual classes of natural mixtures of glycerophospholipids, which can be found after their adsorption liquid chromatography separation, depend not only on the composition of the phases used but also on the molecular species composition of lipids. A close relationship of these levels with the carbon numbers of individual molecules is shown.