Ether lipids are compounds present in many living organisms including humans that feature an
ether bond linkage at the sn-1 position of the
glycerol. This class of
lipids features singular structural roles and biological functions. Alkyl
ether lipids and alkenyl
ether lipids (also identified as
plasmalogens) correspond to the two sub-classes of naturally occurring
ether lipids. In 1979 the discovery of the structure of the
platelet-activating factor (PAF) that belongs to the alkyl
ether class of
lipids increased the interest in these bioactive
lipids and further promoted the synthesis of non-natural
ether lipids that was initiated in the late 60's with the development of
edelfosine (an anticancer drug). More recently,
ohmline, a glyco glycero
ether lipid that modulates selectively SK3
ion channels and reduces in vivo the occurrence of bone
metastases, and other glyco glycero
ether also identified as GAEL (glycosylated antitumor
ether lipids) that exhibit promising anticancer properties renew the interest in this class of compounds. Indeed,
ether lipid represent a new and promising class of compounds featuring the capacity to modulate selectively the activity of some
membrane proteins or, for other compounds, feature antiproliferative properties via an original mechanism of action. The increasing interest in studying
ether lipids for fundamental and applied researches invited to review the methodologies developed to prepare
ether lipids. In this review we focus on the synthetic method used for the preparation of alkyl
ether lipids either naturally occurring
ether lipids (e.g., PAF) or synthetic derivatives that were developed to study their biological properties. The synthesis of neutral or charged
ether lipids are reported with the aim to assemble in this review the most frequently used methodologies to prepare this specific class of compounds.