Tahira Musarrat

• Fats and oils are important biological compounds. These are composed of fatty acids, phospholipids, cholesterol, sterols and triacylglycerols. Triacylglycerols (TAGs) are energy reservoirs for living organisms. TAGs are important components of lipid bilayer in the cells and cellular vesicles i.e., lipid droplets (LD). The most common fatty acids present in the plasma membrane are palmitic, stearic, linoleic, and linolenic acids. Proteins are attached to lipids in the plasma membrane and diffuse with a specific diffusion coefficient. The diffusion of the molecules across the membrane is described in terms of diffusion coefficients. The protein-lipid interactions play important role in the cell signaling and trafficking. The cell signaling and trafficking property of membrane lipids and proteins are important in the transport of drugs across the membrane. The fluidity of the membrane depends upon viscosity, chain length and degree of unsaturation of the unsaturated fatty acid chains. Several symmetrical and unsymmetrical TAGs have been synthesized in purity as a synthetic standard for the analytical studies. The synthesis of symmetrical triacylglycerols (TAGs) is done using previously reported Hassner esterification method. Following this method tripalmitin [PPP], tristearin [SSS], triolein [OOO], trilinolein [LLL], trioctanein [OcOcOc] and trilaurein [LaLaLa] have been synthesized in purity. The basic scheme of the reaction is the same as reported. However, the change in the reaction time, temperature and catalyst showed different yield of the product. The detailed scheme of reaction and experimental procedures have been explained. The unsymmetrical TAGs have been synthesized in two-step reaction following a reported method. Firstly, four 1-monoacylglycerols have been synthesized enantiomerically. These include 1-palmitoyl glycerol, 1-stereoyl glycerol, 1-oleoyl glycerol and 1-linoleoyl glycerol. In the second step, asymmetrical TAGs are synthesized.