Analytical Pyrolysis of Polymeric Materials with Lipid Moieties

Chapter 8. Analytical Pyrolysis of Polymeric Materials with Lipid Moieties 

1 Classification of Complex Lipids and Analytical Pvroivsis of Simple Lipids. 

Lipids are bioorganic substances related to fatty acid esters and include a variety of compounds such as glycerol esters, waxes, phosphoglycerides, sphingolipids, natural hydrocarbons, some vitamins, etc. This diversity of compounds is explained by the fact that initially the term lipids was used to describe natural bioorganic substances soluble in hydrocarbons and insoluble in water. Lipids include both small molecules and polymeric materials. Because some simple lipids are not polymeric, their pyrolysis will be discussed only to the extent of being associated with the pyrolysis of complex lipids. However, non-polymeric lipids are commonly associated with polymeric ones, and pyrolytic techniques were frequently applied on the whole lipid without separation for purposes such as classification or identification of microorganisms based on the pyrolysis pattern of their lipids [1]. 

Several classifications of lipids are available, can be classified as follows  

The variety of fatty acids found in lipids is extremely large. Acids containing a wider range of carbon atoms between C4 to C34 or higher are also found as glycerides. Besides simple acids, more complex ones such as branched and/or hydroxylated acids are also common mainly in microorganisms. One group of such acids is, for example, the mycolic acids  

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