Question

What are the molecules found in lipids?

Answer 1

Lipids are mainly made up of glycerol and fatty acids.

Explanation:

A lipid molecule is a triglyceride. Glycerol is a trihydric alcohol. A long chain fatty acid molecule gets attached to each of three hydroxylic `(-OH)` groups of glycerol.

The fatty acid may be saturated or unsaturated. The general formula of saturated fatty acid is `R-CH2-CH2-COOH`. The general formula of unsaturated fatty acid is `R-CH=CH-COOH`. `R` represents variable length of carbon chain.

Fatty acid gets attached to `(-OH)` group of glycerol by `(-COOH)` group of fatty acid by removal of `H_2O` molecule to form `O-CO` bond.

In phospholipids, a phosphate `(PO_4^(3-))` molecule may get attached to `-OH` group instead of the fatty acid molecule.