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Why are triglycerides hydrophobic?

Hi guyss, so in my biology textbook it says this about triglycerides:

"They are hydrophobic because the charges on the molecule are evenly distributed around the molecule. This means that hydrogen bonds cannot form with water molecules, so the two types of molecule do not mix together easily" -

If anyone can explain that in more depth it would be greatly appreciated :/
Thank you!
Reply 1
This is probably way more information than you were asking for, but here goes:

Water is a polar molecule - the H ions have a relatively positive charge, the O ions are relatively negative. As such, substances that dissolve in water are relatively polar, or completely ionic themselves. The positive part of the molecule will form electrochemical bonds with the Oxygen parts, while the negative part of the molecule will form bonds with the hydrogens.

Triglycerides, having evenly distributed charges (Equal charges throughout the entire molecule - no positive or negative regions, "neutral charge) will not form electrostatic bonds with Water. Therefore, it doesn't dissolve

Just say if you want anything explained in more detail! Do you take chemistry at the moment?


NB: Thought I might add - the electrostatic, Van der Waals forces between molecules of triglyceride will be greater than that between triglyceride and water. Because of the way molecules like to spread their energies, Triglyceride molecules will prefer to stick to each other rather than to water, making it essentially hydrophobic.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 2
Hey I think I've got it! Thank you! And yes I do do chemistry, but this is for biology.


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Reply 3
Original post by Aleenaa
Hi guyss, so in my biology textbook it says this about triglycerides:

"They are hydrophobic because the charges on the molecule are evenly distributed around the molecule. This means that hydrogen bonds cannot form with water molecules, so the two types of molecule do not mix together easily" -

If anyone can explain that in more depth it would be greatly appreciated :/
Thank you!



Original post by Another
x


I read that as 'Why are triglycerides homophobic?' :lol:

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