BIOL 2040 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Peanut Oil, Olive Oil, Dehydration Reaction

• School: Memorial University
• Department: Biology
• Course: BIOL 2040
• Professor: Margaret Caldwell

Document Summary

Lipids are organic compounds that contain the same elements as carbohydrates: carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. However, the hydrogen-to-oxygen ratio is always greater than 2:1. More important for biological systems, the carbon-to-hydrogen bonds are nonpolar covalent, which means that lipids are fat soluble and will not dissolve in water. There are four biologically important lipids: fats, waxes, phospholipids, steroids. Fats are large molecules that are composed of three fatty acid molecules bonded to a glycerol molecule. The fatty acid molecule is a long chain of covalently bonded carbon atoms with nonpolar bonds to hydrogen atoms all along the carbon chain with a carboxyl group attached to one end. Because the carbon-hydrogen bonds are nonpolar, the chain is hydrophobic, meaning they are not water soluble. Glycerol is a three-carbon-chain compound that bonds with the fatty acids to create a fat. Because carbon-hydrogen bonds are considered energy rich, fats store a lot of energy per unit.