What are the molecules found in lipids?

1 Answer
Krishan T. · Nam D.
Mar 9, 2018

Lipids are mainly made up of glycerol and fatty acids.

Explanation:

A lipid molecule is a triglyceride. Glycerol is a trihydric alcohol. A long chain fatty acid molecule gets attached to each of three hydroxylic #(-OH)# groups of glycerol.

The fatty acid may be saturated or unsaturated. The general formula of saturated fatty acid is #R-CH2-CH2-COOH#. The general formula of unsaturated fatty acid is #R-CH=CH-COOH#. #R# represents variable length of carbon chain.

Fatty acid gets attached to #(-OH)# group of glycerol by #(-COOH)# group of fatty acid by removal of #H_2O# molecule to form #O-CO# bond.

In phospholipids, a phosphate #(PO_4^(3-))# molecule may get attached to #-OH# group instead of the fatty acid molecule.

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