 Graded Poincaré–Birkhoff–Witt theorem

For a graded Lie algebra over characteristic zero, the associated graded algebra of its universal enveloping algebra under the word-length filtration is its graded symmetric algebra. Ordered homogeneous monomials form a basis, with exponent at most one on each odd Lie basis element. The defining graded commutation relations reorder every word, and the Jacobi identity resolves the triple-reordering ambiguities. In particular the primitive elements of a Hopf algebra of $U(L)$ are precisely $L$: in its associated graded algebra, a primitive polynomial of symmetric length greater than one would have a nonzero mixed term under the diagonal, which is impossible in characteristic zero.