Fats and Oils Flashcards
How are fats and oils simillar to esters?
They are:
- Greasy to the touch
- Seperates in water.
What do fats and oils produce when they are hydrolysed?
They both produce the same alcohol when they are hydrolysed, called Glycerol (aka fats and oils are esters formed by condensation reactions between glycerol and a fatty acid).
What is the systematic name for Glycerol? How many functional groups does it have?
Propane - 1, 2, 3 - triol. It is a triol, so it has 3 functional groups, they are hydroxyl functional groups. This means it’s polar and the 3xOH gives rise to hydrogen bonding.
What does saturated and unsaturated mean?
Saturated means there are no available bonds and are alkane based (C-C)
Unsaturated means there available bonds and are alkene based (C=C). Can take part in an addition reaction.
What are fatty acids?
They are long carboxlylic acid chains, ranging from C4 to C28.
Do oils or fats contain more C=C bond? What does this do?
Oils contain more C=C bonds, which causes the hydrocarbon chains to have a bend, so molecules cannot get close together, so the LDFs in the molecules are weaker, so oils have a lower melting point. The more C=C, the weaker LDFs.
What do unsaturated compounds do to Bromine?
Bromine Test - Unsaturated compounds quickly decolourise bromine solution. The bromine molecules add across the carbon–carbon double bonds in an addition
reaction. The greater the number of double bonds present in a substance, the more
bromine solution can be decolourised. Tells you if unsaturated or not.
What is hydrogenation and what is it used for?
It adds hydrogen into the chian which causes the chain to become saturated and straighten. It is useful for turning oils into solids, such as sunflower oil into margarine.
