The lipides of green peas

Summary Crude pea lipides were prepared by extracting lyophilized raw peas with chloroform-methanol, 2∶1, and found to comprise 6% of the dry weight of the peas. The composition of the various fractions of pea lipides was studied by measuring the nitrogen, phosphorus, glycerol, fatty acid, and sugar contents, also by means of paper chromatography following acid hydrolysis. The crude lipides were fractionated with acetone, and the acetone-soluble portion was subjected to countercurrent distribution between n-heptane and 95% methanol. The heptane fraction was found to consist nearly entirely of mixed triglycerides; the methanol fraction was a mixture of triglycerides, phosphatides, sugars, and nitrogenous materials. The acetone-insoluble fraction contained 10% of phosphatidyl inositol and nearly equal amounts of alcoholsoluble and alcohol-insoluble phosphatides. This paper is based on work supported by the Gerber Baby Foods Fellowship and was performed in the Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. Approved by the director of the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station for publication as Journal Paper No. 1070.