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Why Lipids Not Polymers of Macromolecules
On the cause of lipid non-macromolecular polymers
People in the world are often puzzled as to why lipids are non-macromolecular polymers. Let's discuss it in detail today.
Guanfu polymers are composed of monomers linked by covalent bonds to form a long-chain macromolecular structure. For example, polysaccharides, monosaccharides are monomers, glycosidic bonds are connected, starch and cellulose are all genera; proteins are amino acids as monomers, peptide bonds are maintained, and have a complex and delicate conformation; nucleic acids are polymerized from nucleotides, and phosphate diester bonds are connected in series, which is the key to life inheritance.
However, lipids are different. There are many kinds of lipids, including fats, phospholipids and sterols. Fats, for example, are composed of glycerol and fatty acids. Glycerol is a ternary alcohol, and fatty acids are long-chain carboxylic acids, which are connected by esterification reaction. However, it is not like polymers, which are connected by the same or similar monomers according to certain rules. The chain length and saturation of fatty acids can be changed, and the way they are connected to glycerol is also not the monomer connection mode of typical polymers.
Phospholipids, although they have hydrophilic heads and hydrophobic tails, have a more complex structure than fats, but their formation is not based on monomer polymerization mechanism. The combination of hydrophilic heads and hydrophobic tails is due to the physical and chemical properties of the molecules themselves, and a specific arrangement is formed to adapt to the environment, not by polymerization.
As for sterols, they have a tetracyclic carbon skeleton structure, which is completely different from the long-chain morphology of polymers. Cholesterols, sex hormones and other steroids have very different anabolic pathways from the polymer formation process.
From this point of view, lipids are non-macromolecular polymers because their structural composition and formation mode do not match the monomer regular polymerization characteristics required by polymers. Knowing this, in the study of biochemistry, we can gain a deeper understanding.
People in the world are often puzzled as to why lipids are non-macromolecular polymers. Let's discuss it in detail today.
Guanfu polymers are composed of monomers linked by covalent bonds to form a long-chain macromolecular structure. For example, polysaccharides, monosaccharides are monomers, glycosidic bonds are connected, starch and cellulose are all genera; proteins are amino acids as monomers, peptide bonds are maintained, and have a complex and delicate conformation; nucleic acids are polymerized from nucleotides, and phosphate diester bonds are connected in series, which is the key to life inheritance.
However, lipids are different. There are many kinds of lipids, including fats, phospholipids and sterols. Fats, for example, are composed of glycerol and fatty acids. Glycerol is a ternary alcohol, and fatty acids are long-chain carboxylic acids, which are connected by esterification reaction. However, it is not like polymers, which are connected by the same or similar monomers according to certain rules. The chain length and saturation of fatty acids can be changed, and the way they are connected to glycerol is also not the monomer connection mode of typical polymers.
Phospholipids, although they have hydrophilic heads and hydrophobic tails, have a more complex structure than fats, but their formation is not based on monomer polymerization mechanism. The combination of hydrophilic heads and hydrophobic tails is due to the physical and chemical properties of the molecules themselves, and a specific arrangement is formed to adapt to the environment, not by polymerization.
As for sterols, they have a tetracyclic carbon skeleton structure, which is completely different from the long-chain morphology of polymers. Cholesterols, sex hormones and other steroids have very different anabolic pathways from the polymer formation process.
From this point of view, lipids are non-macromolecular polymers because their structural composition and formation mode do not match the monomer regular polymerization characteristics required by polymers. Knowing this, in the study of biochemistry, we can gain a deeper understanding.
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