Composition of the Aldehydes of Clostridium Butyricum Plasmalogens. Cyclopropane Aldehydes.

Recent advances in gas-liquid chromatography have permitted the separation and identification of aldehydes derived from plasmalogens, and a number of analyses of aldehydes from animal plasmalogens have been reported (l-3). Bacterial plasmalogens, on the other hand, have only recently been discovered, and no analyses of their fatty aldehydes are available (4-6). Such analyses would be of particular interest since the fatty acids of bacteria differ from those of higher organisms in a number of features, which reflect differences in biosynthetic pathways (7,8). These features include: the presence of cis-vaccenic acid instead of oleic acid as the major 18 carbon monounsaturated fatty acid (9), the presence in many bacterial species of fatty acids containing a cyclopropane ring (lo), and the absence of polyunsaturated fatty acids. We have undertaken an analysis of the fatty aldehyde chains of Clostridium butyricum plasmalogens. Evidence is presented for the occurrence of 16 and 18 carbon saturated and monounsaturated aldehydes, and 17 and 19 carbon aldehydes which contain a cyclopropane ring. No polyunsaturated aldehydes appear to be present.