Biology Forum › Molecular Biology › What characteristics are there of alcohols?
- AuthorPosts
- October 8, 2010 at 1:45 am #13904leftventricleParticipant
About fats…the macromolecule: Fatty acids are attached to alcohols right? (eg glycerol)
So…what is an alcohol?
- October 8, 2010 at 7:39 am #101730vinayaksabnisParticipant
Alcohols are nothing but they are the alkyl group attached to OH group
- October 8, 2010 at 3:05 pm #101736jonmoultonParticipant
A free alcohol group (properly called a hydroxyl, -OH) can hydrogen-bond, so the group tends to improve the aqueous solubility of the molecule bearing it. Under some circumstances the hydroxyl can be reactive; a typical reaction of hydroxyl groups is esterification (ester formation).
To form fatty acids, a hydroxyl is combined with a carboxylic acid by dehydration synthesis to form an ester (a fat has three of these ester groups). Hydrolysis of the ester cleaves the fat into a trihydroxyl-bearing glycerol and three fatty acids (each with its terminal carboxylic acid).
- AuthorPosts
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.