Return to Contents Chapter 26: Lipids Ch 26 contents

Lipid Answers

Qu 1: (a) An unsaturated triglyceride must contain alkene C=C and contains 3 ester groups, RCO2R
(b) See the basic mechanism for a simple ester here.
Qu 2: (a) Increasing the chain length will increase the Van der Waals forces and so increase the melting points. 
 So C18 > C16 > C12  or stearic (70oC) > palmitic (63oC) > lauric (44oC)

(b) Increasing the degree of unsaturation lowers the melting point because it interferes with the packing of the hydrocarbon chains.
So stearic (70oC) > oleic (16oC) > linoleic (approx. -8oC)

Qu 3: A possible set of isoprene units is shown for each structure below (there may of course be other possible answers)
(a)
(b)
(c)
Qu 4: A Diels-Alder reaction (the hint should have been recognising the cyclohexene unit):
Qu 5: The oil or grease particles becomes solubilised by becoming trapped in the hydrocarbon core of a micelle. 
They are then carried into the aqueous solution and is washed away. This is shown schematically below, the black circles represent grease particles.