Abstract
PREVIOUS work1 has suggested that the presence of double bonds at the 6–7, 9–10 positions, counting from the terminal CH3-group, is fundamental for the biological activity of essential fatty acids. This ‘6 : 9-(term.)’-hypothesis has directed attention to the highly unsaturated long-chain fatty acids from brain glycero-phosphatides1. According to Klenk2, the C20 fatty acids of these phosphatides should contain two C 6,9-(term.)-acids, namely, C 11,14-eicosadienoic acid and arachidonic acid. The latter has long been recognized as an essential fatty acid, and, more recently, the former has appeared to be also active1. In the C22-fraction of the brain glycero-phosphatides, six different fatty acids should occur, three possessing the 6,9-(term.)-configuration. Later, Klenk2 succeeded in verifying the presence of these three 6,9-(term.)-acids by isolation and identification: 
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References
Thomasson, H. J., Intern. Z. Vitaminforsch., 25, 62 (1953).
Klenk, E., and Rongard, W., Z. physiol. Chem., 291, 104 (1952). Klenk, E., and Lindlar, F., Z. physiol. Chem., 299, 74 (1955).
Hume, E. M., Nunn, L. C. A., Smedley-McLean, I., and Smith, H. H., Biochem. J., 32, 2162 (1938).
de Iongh, H., Discussion 2nd Int. Conf. on Biochemical Problems of Lipids, University of Ghent, July 1955: “The Vitamin-F Activity of Highly Unsaturated Fatty Acids from Human Brain Glycerophosphatides” (in the press).
Beauvallet, M., et al., Rev. Can. de Biol., 12, 17 (1953).
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DE IONGH, H., THOMASSON, H. Essential Fatty Acid Activity of Docosapolyenoic Acids from Brain Glycero-Phosphatides. Nature 178, 1051–1052 (1956). https://doi.org/10.1038/1781051a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1781051a0
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