Lipids with ether bonds to long-chain alkyl moieties in addition to having ester bonds to fatty acidsare not important constituents of many lipids of commercial value, but they are very common innature, especially as membrane constituents. Usually the ether bond is to position sn-1 of aglycerol moiety, which may be part of a non-polar lipid or more often a phospholipid in animaltissues or in anaerobic bacteria. At one time, they were considered to be little more than abiological novelty. However, findings of elevated levels of ether lipids in cancer tissues, followed bythe discovery of distinctive ether lipids, such as platelet-activating factor, with important biologicalactivities have greatly stimulated the interest in these compounds.

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