Lecture 3 - Organic Molecules Flashcards
What are the common properties of lipids?
- Not Polymers
- Hydrophobic
What is the structure of triglycerides?
- 3 Fatty Acids
- 1 Glycerol
What are two different triglycerides?
Fats or Oils
What is the difference between fats and oils?
Fats are saturated fatty acids and oils are unsaturated
What is the difference between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids?
Saturated have the max possible amount of hydrogens while unsaturated still have room for more hydrogen bonds. (because saturated only have single bonds while unsaturated have double bonds)
What are phospholipids? (structure)
a phosphate and a small organic group attached to a triglyceride.
What are amphipathic molecules?
Hydrophilic heads with hydrophobic tails.
Why do phospholipids form bilayer arrangements?
The tails want to be as far away from water as possible while phosphates want to be in water therefore they orient themselves in a way that all of the tails are touching one another while the heads are submerged in water.
What is the difference between phospholipids and glycolipids?
They look identical, but glycolipids have the head of a monosaccharide while phospholipids have heads of phosphate.
What are steroids? and what is their composition?
They’re fats that build cholesterol. Then cholesterol builds hormones. Steroids are a plural number of fused carbon hydrogen rings with a tail.
What are waxes? What is their composition?
A waterproof material used by bees and tropical plants. Waxes look like a large row of carbon hydrogen bonds with one side have 2 oxygens. They look like a large scarf.
What are the two types of energy storage that organisms use? & why?
Carbs and Lipids. Carbs because they are easy to make but they dont store too much energy. & lipids because they store a lot of energy but they’re very inconvenient to make.
What is the difference between fats and oils, specifically in the context of energy storage?
Fats are simple to make but they solidify when cold (therefore only useful for hot blooded organisms)
Oils are harder to make and they dont solidify when cold - but will leak when hot (therefore only used by cold blooded organisms)
What are cofactors?
They’re small organic molecules that make their respective proteins functional.
