Abstract
The kinetics of the autoxidation of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylcholine (PC) in non-polar organic solvents were studied at 37°C in air. The rates of oxidation of phospholipids (PLs) were expressed as k·Ri1/2 [PL] n, where k, Ri, and n are oxidizability of substrate, rate of chain initiation, and kinetic order in substrate concentration, respectively. n values were smaller than 1 due to the aggregation of PLs in organic solvents. k values per bisallylic hydrogen of PE were essentially the same as those of PC, suggesting differences in nitrogen moieties not to effect the rates of oxidation and the degree of oxidation to depend on the number of bisallylic hydrogens. This was confirmed by the finding that the rate of oxidation of methyl linoleate was not affected by the addition of unoxidizable dimyristoyl PC or PE.
