Characterisation of the glycerophospholipid fraction in flaxseed oil using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method coupled with mass spectrometry was used to characterise the natural phospholipid (PL) classes and molecular species in flaxseed oils. The PL fraction included phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) (27–40%), phosphatidylinositol (PI) (29–32%), phosphatidylcholine (PC) (7–18%), lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) (8–21%), phosphatidylglycerol (PG) (1–4%) and phosphatidic acid (PA) (1–9%). The distribution of fatty acids was found to differ between phospholipids. Stearic acid was mainly present in the form of PC and LPC. Palmitic acid was present in the most abundant molecular species in PI, PG and PA whereas linoleic acid formed the most abundant molecular species in PE.