Reaction of alkaline benzenearsonous and 2,3‐dihydroxypropylarsonous acids with rac‐glycidol affords the corresponding arsinic acids, which after reduction with thiophenol are acylated with either fatty‐acid chlorides/pyridine or fatty acids/dicyclohexylcarbodiimide/4‐dimethylaminopyridine and oxidized with hydrogen peroxide to give the arsinolipids (rac‐2,3‐diacyloxypropyl)phenylarsinic and bis‐(rac‐2,3‐diacyloxypropyl)arsinic acids. The latter is a non‐isosteric analogue of bisphosphatidic acid. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.