What is a lipid composed of?

Answer 1

Without simplification, lipids are composed of One acid head and One hydrocarbon tail.

Lipids are found in two main classes: Oils are from Plant sources and are liquid at room temperature [dog-legged unsaturated lipids - they stack like broken toothpicks] while Fats are from animal sources and are solid at room temperature [straight chained saturated lipids - they stack easily and solidly like straight toothpicks].

With Elemental simplification; Carbon and Oxygen are in the Acid, with Carbon and Hydrogen [and the occasional C=C double unsaturated double bond or two] are in the Tail. Tail monomers are -CH2- there may be anywhere from 13 of these monomers up to 28 of them!

Answer 2

There are several kinds of lipids according to their structure, so we have:

a) Fatty acids. There are carboxylic acids with long-chain hydrocarbon side groups mostly even number of carbon atoms. Fatty acids can be saturated (without double bonds), e.g., lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, arachidic acid, etc. On the other hand, over half of the fatty acid residues of plant and animal lipids are unsaturated (contain double bonds) and are often polyunsaturated (that contain two or more double bonds), e.g., palmitoleic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, alpha-linolenic, arachidonic acid, etc.

b) Triacylglycerols. Also known as triglycerides or neutral fats, and are conformed by the esterification of three fatty acids to a glycerol molecule. The constitution of the fatty acids varies widely, and they can be the same fatty acids or a mixed triacylglycerols, with two or three different types of fatty acids.

c) Glycerophospholipids or phosphoglycerides. They are formed by one sn-glycerol-3-phosphate esterified at its C1 and C2 positions to fatty acids and at its phosphoryl group to a group (usually called as "X"). Some examples are (group in brackets is X=): Phosphatidic acid (H), Phosphatidylethanolamine (ethanolamine), Phosphatidylcholine (choline), Phosphatidylinositol (myo-inositol), Phosphatidylglycerol (glycerol), etc.

d) Sphingolipids. They are derivatives of of C18 amino alcohols sphingosine, dihydrosphingosine, and their C16, C17, C19, and C20 homologs. Examples of sphingolipids are the sphingomyelins, cerebrosides, and gangliosides.

e) Steroids. They are derivatives of cyclopentanoperhydrophenanthrene. The most common steroid is cholesterol, the metabolic precursor of steroid hormones.

Answer 3

Lipids hold fat. Fat is in lipids.

So lipids are really just fat.

Answer 4

long chains of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms attached

BeLiCheKo MYC

Answer 5

The elemental composition of lipids are choborus, hydrobus, churvaloosh and eklavoosh.

Answer 6

a head group (differs from lipid to lipid), a carbon based back bone and two fatty acid tails. Three major types are sterols, sphingolipids and glycerolipids

Answer 7

carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen and oxygen my not all ways be present.

Answer 8

some sort of fatty acid arrangement