Lipophilic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lipophilic materials are those that that attract non-polar organic compounds, most notably oils, fats, greases, and oily substances. Lipophilic materials are used for oil removal from water, managing oil spills, and chemical separation processes to remove non-polar from polar compounds. Lipophilic materials and compounds tend to be hydrophobic.
Surfactants are unique compounds that have a hydrophilic end and a lipophilic end. Soaps are surfactants. They dissolve oils and organic dirts and wash off with water. One part of the soap molecule is attracted to oil and the other part is attracted to water (hydrophilic).
Cell membranes are composed of phospholipids, which have a lipophilic end and a hydrophilic end. It is said that life could not have formed without these phospholipid compounds. According to the theory of evolution, the surfactant nature of the phospholipid compounds in the aqueous ocean environment a billion years ago caused these compounds to agglomerate into spherical cells. Inside the cells was lipid material, which included other organic molecules swimming about in the primordial soup. Outside the cells was the water environment. One of the other phospholipid compounds formed in the ancient ocean environment was ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid (RNA and DNA), which formed the blueprint for life. Protecting this genetic material inside cell membranes was an essential survival requirement for life to form.de:Lipophilie nl:Lipofiel ja:親油性
