BIOL 403 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Chemical Polarity, Glyceride, Covalent Bond

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Since biological chemistry occurs largely in an aqueous environment, the interaction of a biological molecule with water is very important. That interaction is influenced by two primary causes: size and polarity (charge). The smaller a molecule is, the more likely it is to be willing to associate with water (dissolve). Also, the more polar and/or charged a molecule is, the more likely it is to be willing to associate with water. Since biological molecules are often very large, it is common for the different parts of the molecule to interact differently in water. For instance, a protein, which is composed of many different amino acids which have a large variety of characters, may be hydrophobic in part of its sequence and hydrophilic in other parts. Hydrophilic (hydro=water; philios=love): hydrophilic molecules or parts of molecules will dissolve in (interact with) water. Hydrophobic (hydro=water; phobio=fear): hydrophobic molecules or parts of molecules will refuse to interact with water.

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