Table of Contents
- 1 What is the R group of a fatty acid?
- 2 What is a fat molecule?
- 3 What are the 4 components of a fat molecule?
- 4 What do fatty acids do for your body?
- 5 How do you dissolve triglycerides?
- 6 What 2 types of molecules are needed to form a fat molecule?
- 7 What causes high triglycerides?
- 8 What is the R in protein?
What is the R group of a fatty acid?
Fatty acids – often written as RCOOH – have an alkyl ‘hydrocarbon’ section R – quite a long chain of carbon atoms surrounded by hydrogen atoms – and a carboxylic acid group: -COOH. These R groups may be described as saturated or unsaturated.
What is a fat molecule?
A fat molecule is a type of lipid that consists of three fatty acid molecules connected to a 3 carbon glycerol backbone, as shown on the right. Since a fat molecule has 3 fatty acids connected to a glycerol molecule, they are also called trigylcerides.
What are the 4 components of a fat molecule?
A fat molecule consists of two main components: glycerol and fatty acids. Glycerol is an alcohol with three carbons, five hydrogens, and three hydroxyl (OH) groups. Fatty acids have a long chain of hydrocarbons with a carboxyl group attached and may have 4-36 carbons; however, most of them have 12-18.
What is the R in a triglyceride?
A triglyceride contains one molecule of glycerol and three molecules of fatty acids. 1 shows a triglyceride structure with three different types of fatty acids (R 1 , R 2 and R 3 ) and three carbon positions on the glycerol that may carry different fatty acids.
Do proteins have R groups?
The building blocks of all proteins are the amino acids. The remainder, about 5 amino acids, have R-groups which can ionize. At normal cellular pH’s these R-groups become electrically charged, making them even more hydrophilic than the polar amino acids.
What do fatty acids do for your body?
Fatty acids are energy sources and membrane constituents. They have biological activities that act to influence cell and tissue metabolism, function, and responsiveness to hormonal and other signals.
How do you dissolve triglycerides?
Because of the long carbon chains, triglycerides are nearly nonpolar molecules and thus do not dissolve readily in polar solvents such as water. Instead, oils and fats are soluble in nonpolar organic solvents such as hexane and ethers.
What 2 types of molecules are needed to form a fat molecule?
A fat molecule consists of two kinds of parts: a glycerol backbone and three fatty acid tails. Glycerol is a small organic molecule with three hydroxyl (OH) groups, while a fatty acid consists of a long hydrocarbon chain attached to a carboxyl group.
How is a lipid molecule formed?
Triacylglycerols, commonly called triglycerides (known as lipids), are formed by combining glycerol with three fatty acid molecules.
What are the 3 types of triglycerides?
The three types of fatty acids that compose triglycerides are saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. From these three types of fatty acids come the three types of triglycerides, or fats; saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated triglycerides.
What causes high triglycerides?
Cause. The most common causes of high triglycerides are obesity and poorly controlled diabetes. If you are overweight and are not active, you may have high triglycerides, especially if you eat a lot of carbohydrate or sugary foods or drink a lot of alcohol.
What is the R in protein?
The amino acids present in proteins differ from each other in the structure of their side (R) chains. The simplest amino acid is glycine, in which R is a hydrogen atom. In a number of amino acids, R represents straight or branched carbon chains.