How do lipids differ from carbohydrates and proteins?

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Answer 1 · 2015-06-13T15:47:13

Lipids are hydrophobic and insoluble in water. Carbohydrates and proteins are hydrophilic and able to form hydrogen bonds with water.

Lipids

Lipids have varied structures, but all have a polar "head" and a large nonpolar "tail"".

Fats and oils are typical lipids.

The structure of a typical fat is

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The molecule is mostly nonpolar hydrocarbon with some polar $"C=O"$ groups at one end.

Proteins

Proteins are large molecules that consist of long chains of amino acids joined together by peptide ( $"CONH"$ ) bonds.

The structure of a small protein is

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Proteins have polar $"C=O"$ and $"N-H"$ groups, so they are able to form hydrogen bonds with other molecules and with each other.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates have many polar $"OH"$ groups.

A typical carbohydrate is starch, which is consists of many glucose units ( $"C"_6"H"_12"O"_6$ ) joined together.

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Most carbohydrates are hydrophilic and soluble in water because of their polar $"OH"$ groups.