What are lipids and what are some of their common properties?

2 Answers
Jan 1, 2018

Glycerol and fatty acids

Explanation:

Lipids consist of up to three fatty acids coupled together with a molecule of glycerol. These fatty acids can generally be any fatty acid in any combination.
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Organic/lipid.html

Jan 1, 2018

Lipids are molecules of different chemical structures, so they can not be presented in a general formula/ building block like e.g. carbohydrates, proteins...
Some of their common properties are: insolubility in water and good solubility in organic solvents such as chloroform, ether and benzene.
More info below

Explanation:

Some lipids have three major biological roles:
storing energy, building biological membranes, and transmitting signals between cells

Their chemical structure is very different and so as their functions in nature.
As a big group lipids include :

  • triacylglycerols (fat, oils)
    img.tfd.com
    R 1, R 2 and R 3 are hydrocarbon groups of long chain fatty acids, in a higher number of carbon atoms. The higher the proportion of unsaturated fatty acids in their composition the more are they liquid (oils).

www.mojpedijatar.co.rs
Picture 1: saturated fatty acid,
zenstvena.com
Picture 2: unsaturated fatty acid

courses.washington.edu

  • phospholipids
    http://cdn1.teachmeseries.com/tmphysiology/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/22090722/phospholipid.jpg
    Phospholipids are the membrane components of each cell.
    image.slidesharecdn.com

  • glycolipids
    upload.wikimedia.org
    They keep the stability of the cell membrane. They are formed by a carbohydrate attached by a glycosidic bond.

  • steroids
    They are constructed from four carbon rings, to which different functional groups are attached. They are found in all live cells. The main steroid is cholesterol, containing 27- C atoms.
    upload.wikimedia.org
    On this picture of cholesterol you can see 4 rings and different functional groups that are attached to the ring. Cholesterol is the major molecule in the synthesis of hormones, regulatory and signaling molecules.

  • waxes
    www.srswax.com
    They have a variety of functional groups and are build of long alkyl chains.
    www.proprofs.com

More: https://socratic.org/questions/what-are-lipids?source=search