Abstract: Lipids play an important role in living organisms, and the structure affects the function. Analysis of the fine structure of lipids is very important. However, the diversity and similarity of lipid structures pose a great challenge for lipid analysis. Mass spectrometry (MS) is one of the important methods for lipid analysis, and it has a good application in the structural elucidation of lipid C=C and fatty acyl positions. In this article, the pretreatment methods for lipid analysis are introduced, and the MS-based methods for the identification of C=C and fatty acyl positions in lipids are reviewed. Additionally, the applications of these methods in food analysis are discussed. Finally, this review presents an outlook on future trends in the development of MS in the accurate structure elucidation of lipid compounds in order to provide a reference for the identification and quantitative analysis of C=C and fatty acyl positions and their isomers in unsaturated lipids.

Key words: lipids; mass spectrometry; C=C position; fatty acyl position; application