Lipids remain one of the most enigmatic classes of biological molecules. Whereas lipids are well known to form basic units of membrane structure and energy storage, deciphering the exact roles and biological interactions of distinct lipid species has proven elusive. How these building blocks are synthesized, trafficked, and stored are also questions that require closer inspection. This tutorial review covers recent advances on the preparation, derivatization, and analysis of lipids. In particular, we describe several chemical approaches that form part of a powerful toolbox for controlling and characterizing lipid structure. We believe these tools will be helpful in numerous applications, including the study of lipid–protein interactions and the development of novel drug delivery systems.

中文翻译：

---

脂质：用于合成、修饰和分析的化学工具。

脂质仍然是最神秘的生物分子类别之一。尽管众所周知，脂质形成膜结构和能量储存的基本单位，但破译不同脂质种类的确切作用和生物相互作用已被证明是难以捉摸的。这些构建块如何合成、运输和存储也是需要仔细检查的问题。本教程回顾涵盖了脂质制备、衍生化和分析的最新进展。特别是，我们描述了几种化学方法，这些方法构成了用于控制和表征脂质结构的强大工具箱的一部分。我们相信这些工具将有助于许多应用，包括脂质-蛋白质相互作用的研究和新型药物输送系统的开发。