Saturated and unsaturated Fatty acid

• Unsaturated fatty acids have lower melting points than saturated fatty acids of
the same length.
• This is because the double bonds cause an inflexible in unst.F.A. chain
therfore, unst.F.A donot pack as closly together as S.F.A.

• Lipid bilayer : Amphipathic (or amphiphilic) molecules contain both

hydrophilic (waterloving) and hydrophobic (water-hating) regions.
Membrane lipids are amphipathic molecules as they are made up of
hydrophobic fatty acid chains and a hydrophilic polar headgroup.

Steroids:
• Steroids structure consisting of four saturated rings, known as gonane. At the
end of the steroid core, many steroids also carry a side chain,
The three most important groups of steroids are
1- the sterols,
2- bile acids,
3- steroid hormones.

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1-Sterols

• Sterols are steroid alcohols. They have a β-positioned hydroxyl group at C-3
and one ormore double bonds in ring B and in the side chain.
• The most important sterol in animals is cholesterol The storage and transport
forms of cholesterol are its esters with fatty acids.
• In Plant there are ergosterol, β-sitosterol, and stigmasterol.
Cholesterol and cholesterol esters

H3C
CH3

CH3 H
hydrophobic
O
H H

OH drawn this way R O

usually palmitate

hydrophillic

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b- Bile acids:
• Bile acids are synthesized from cholesterol in the liver ,Their structures can
therefore be derived from cholesterol.
• side chain shortened by three C atoms in which the last carbon atom is
oxidized to a carboxyl group.
• Bile acids keep bile cholesterol in a soluble state as micelles

• The steroid hormones are a group of lipophilic signal substances that regulate
metabolism, growth, and reproduction.
• Humans have six steroid hormones:
progesterone, cortisol, aldosterone, testosterone, estradiol, and calcitriol.

C. Steroid hormones

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