Three series of lipids, namely glycerolipids, sphingolipids and sterol lipids, are ubiquitously present in plants and fungi such as mold and mushroom. Among these, very little is known about sphingolipids, although they have been considered as structural components of membranes. Comprehensive studies have determined their structural characteristics and physiological properties, which markedly differ from those of animals, and the possible roles of sphingolipids in relation to chilling and freezing tolerance have been suggested by the structural diversity and changes in component species in response to environmental stress. Intensive research has then focused upon metabolism and its related, genes of sphingolipids to understand their physiological functions. Food functionality, such as the preventive effect on colon cancer, of plant and fungal glucosylceramide, one of principal sphingolipids, has also been demonstrated, as previously reported on animal sphingolipid (sphingomyelin). Moreover, the technical basis for the production of sphingolipid from un-utilized resources was developed for use as a safe functional foodproduct.

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Self-assembled structures and phase behavior in water and water-oil systems containing mixed surfactants have been studied to understand complex effects of several factors such as surfactant and solvent molecular architecture, temperature, compositions, additive effects. This review contains three topics from those studies. First topic is about the effect of water-soluble alcohols on the nonionic micelle formation, in which the glycerol induces a micellar growth while the propyleneglycol brakes micelles down into monomers. The second topic is about a method to evaluate the amount of oil solubilized in the surfactant palisade layer by a small angle X-ray data and a structural model. The last topic is describing that the difference of surfactant molecular weight between two surfactants in a mixed surfactant system leads to coexisting lamellar phases or micelles having different compositions.

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As new functional materials with troponoid, mercurophilic troponoid ionophores, troponoid chromoionophores, troponoid liquid crystals, and troponoid organogelators were synthesized. Troponoid dithiocrown ethers showed high Hg (II) cation affinity and could be used as a Hg (II) cation carrier through a liquid membrane. Troponoid azamacrocycles displayed unique absorption spectral changes in the presence of guest cation and could be used as a chromoionophore for guest cations recognition. The Hg (II) transport mechanism of troponoid dithiocrown ethers, color change mechanism of troponoid azamacrocycles, and molecular packing of troponoid liquid crystals and organogelators were elucidated.

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