Sanjoy K. Bhattacharya

In the past decade, mass spectrometry (MS) has made tremendous advances toward the profiling and identification of lipids from biological samples. MS is attractive for the simplicity it offers toward total profiling of lipids, the identification and characterization of individual entities directly after extraction from complex biological mixtures utilizing an infusion mode. Fundamentally, two types of mass analyzers exist, depending upon whether the fragment ion resolution and analysis occurs in space domain or in time domain within the mass spectrometer. Compared to MS, chromatographic methods are cumbersome. Nuclear magnetic resonance, which provides unequivocal elucidation of structures, necessitates much higher absolute amount and demands purity of lipids. We present here an account of recent developments in class-specific lipid identification strategies, targeted and untargeted lipid analyses, identification and de novo structure elucidation using mass spectrometric and combinatorial chemical derivatization and MS. We have reviewed the strategies with emphasis for spatial domain fragment resolution mass analyzers enabling analysis of lipids in a class-specific manner. We also provide a brief account of database and bioinformatic tools that have been recently developed toward profiling, identification and quantification of lipids in complex biological mixtures.