The nomenclature of lipids

‘The nomenclature of lipids is the concern both of organic chemists and of biochemists. The systematic names of individual lipids can always be derived by the general rules of organic nomenclature ; however, such names are often complex and need to be supplemented by alternative “semisystematic” names (as has been done, e.g., for steroids and corrinoids). Another problem is that of names for groups of related and homologous compounds (including mixtures) ; such names are hardly ever needed by the pure organic chemist, but are very necessary in biochemical work. Several attempts have been made in the past to standardize nomenclature in the lipid field, notably by the United States NAS-NRC Subcommittee on the Nomenclature of Biochemistry under the Chairmanship of W. E. M. Lands (Ann Arbor, Michigan) in 1962. At about the same time, proposals were made for names for groups of lipids by a German group (1). The Biological Nomenclature Commission of IUPAC and the Commission of Editors of Biochemical Journals of IUB decided, in 1963, to set up an international Subcommittee on Lipid Nomenclature under the chairmanship of H. Hirschmann (Cleveland, Ohio); this group discussed and, with the advice of interested colleagues, modified some of the material embodied in the two earlier proposals. The IUPAC-IUB Subcommittee, which later became responsible to the Combined Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature of IUPAC and IUB (CBN), when this was formed in January 1964, has consisted of the following: H. Hirschmann (Chairman, U.S.A.), A. Gottschalk (Australia), F. D. Gunstone (U.K.), M. L. Karnovsky (U.S.A.), E. Klenk (Germany), W. E. M. Lands (U.S.A.), J. Polonovski (France), L. L. M. van Deenen (The Netherlands). Their discussions were carried out largely by correspondence and resulted in draft proposals that were considered by CBN at its meetings in Paris (1965) and in Gothenburg (1966) and by correspondence between the meetings. The