The first concise synthesis of a phosphinate analogue of the antitumour ether phospholipid edelfosine is described. The key synthetic step comprised the free-radical addition reaction of phosphinic acid to a functionalised allyl ether, to incorporate the hydrophobic tail into a monosubstituted H-phosphinic acid. The hydrophilic head group was then added by using a silyl phosphonite based Michael addition. The reported synthetic study lays the groundwork for the synthesis of modified phosphinate phospholipid derivatives to facilitate investigations on their biological activity as membrane-targeting antitumour agents.