Lipids are naturally occuring molecules that are defined by their solubility in non-polar solvents and poor solublity in aqueous solvents.What type of lipid is the following molecule?

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Let’s break down what is depicted in the molecule. The figure shows a glycerol backbone with three ester bonds to long hydrocarbon chains, each chain ending in a hydrocarbon tail. This arrangement—three fatty acid chains esterified to a glycerol molecule—is the classic structure of a triglyceride.

Option a. Triglyceride: This is the correct classification because triglycerides are formed by the esterification of glycerol with three fatty acids, matching the three ester linkages and long aliphatic tails shown. The overall molecule is highly nonpolar and hydrophobic, which aligns with the definition of naturally occurring lipids solubility in nonpolar solvents.

Option b. Phosphoglyceride: Phosphoglycerides contain a phosphate-containing head group (phospholipids) attached to the glycerol backbone, typically with one fatty acid replaced by a phosphate-containing moiety. The image lacks a phosphate group or a polar head group, so this is not a phosphoglyceride.

Option c. Wax: Waxes are typically esters of long-chain fatty acids with long-chain alcohols, forming very long, often crystalline esters. While they are also lipids, the displayed molecule has three fatty acid chains on glycerol rather than a single fatty acid linked to a fatty alcohol, which does not fit the common wax structure.

Option d. Steroid: Steroids have a fused four-ring skeleton (cyclopentanoperhydrophenanthrene) and do not contain glycerol with fatty acid esters. The pictured structure is not a steroid.

Option e. Turpene: Terpenes (turpene is an older spelling) are built from isoprene units and have carbon skeletons distinct from glycerol-based triacylglycerol structures; they do not feature the glycerol backbone with three fatty acid esters shown here.

In summary, the molecule’s three fatty acid chains esterified to a glycerol backbone best fits the definition of a triglyceride, while the other lipid types have distinct structural features not present in the diagram.

My LMS Subjects Quiz 3

Lipids are naturally occuring molecules that are defined by their solubility in non-polar solvents and poor solublity in aqueous solvents.What type of lipid is the following molecule?

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