Fats and Oils Flashcards
How can the fats and oils commonly found in foodstuffs be classified?
As animal, plant or marine.
What structure do fats take at room temperature?
Solid.
What structure do oils take at room temperature?
Liquid.
What group of hydrocarbons do fats and oils belong to ?
Esters.
How are fats and oils formed?
From the condensation reaction between glycerol and a long chain carboxylic acid.
What is the systematic name for glycerol?
Propane-1,2,3-triol.
What is the structure of a fat molecule?
It has 3 long hydrocarbon chains and can either be saturated or unsaturated.
What does a saturated hydrocarbon chain allow for?
Close packing of the molecules, a large amount of intermolecular attraction and a higher melting point.
What effect do the double bonds in an unsaturated fat have?
They cause the molecule to bend and kink so it is more difficult for the molecules to nestle together.
What term is used for a molecule with more than one double bond?
Polyunsaturated.
What is one way to measure the level of unsaturation?
The bromine test for alkene double bonds. The more bromine solution an oil or fat can decolourise, the more unsaturated it must be.
What is hydrogenation?
The addition of vegetable oil to the double bond of an oil so it becomes solid.
