Question

1) What are the polar and non-polar portions of each of the following classes of lipid a) Triacylglycerol 90 worda wol sutOA b) Sphingolipid 0:0 (91 Ganglioside OI OS CA ) Glycerophospholipid Coconut oil only contains a very small amount of unsaturated fatty acids, how c 2) ting point?

Answer 1

Lipids are hydrophobic or amphiphilic biomolecules. They are integral part of structures like vesicles, liposomes, or membranes in aqueous environment. Lipids are categorized into many categories: fatty acids, glycerolipids, saccharolipids, glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, sterol lipids, polyketides and prenol lipids. Lipids have a polar head and a non-polar tail.

Triacylglycerol is an ester made up of glycerol and three fatty acids. They are nonpolar, and hydrophobic. They are also insoluble in water. Triglycerols have polar hydroxyls of glycerol and the polar carboxylates of the fatty acids as lipid head and mon-polar fatty acid chain.

Sphingolipids are a class of lipids which have a backbone of sphingoid base. It is made up of sphingosine which is polar and a fatty acid tail which is non-polar.

Glycosphingolipids are a type of glycolipids and contains alcohol sphingosine. Gangliosides are made up of glycosphingolipid with sialic acid linked on the sugar chain. The oligosaccharide head group of ganglioside will be polar and the fatty acid chain is non-polar side.

Glycerol-based phospholipids are called glycerophospholipids. In glycerophospholipids, the two fatty acid chains which are attached to the glycerol molecule are nonpolar, whereas the phosphate group attached to the third carbon of the glycerol molecule is polar.