Question

2. Do carbohydrates cross easily a phospholipid membrane?

3. What type of chemical bond maintains the carbon tail of lipids together?

4. A biotechnology company asks you to attach a monosaccharide to a lipid. Which is the best way (which atoms?) to link the molecules together?

Answer 1

Q. Do carbohydrates cross easily a phospholipid membrane?

Answer- carbohydrates are large molecules and phospholipid bilayer is permeable to small molecules like gases. Phospholipid bilayer is also impermeable to polar molecules and carbohydrates are polar in nature, so that carbohydrates can not cross easily phospholipid membrane.

Q. What type of chemical bond maintains the carbon tail of lipids together?

Answer- The hydrocarbon tail of lipid is hydrophobic in nature and due to this, carbon tail of lipids interacts with each other by hydrophobic interaction. Hydrophobic interaction is non covalent interaction formed between nonpolar molecules. Due to hydrophobic forces tails of lipid molecules are held together.

Q. A biotechnology company asks you to attach a monosaccharide to a lipid. Which is the best way (which atoms?) to link the molecules together?

Answer- carbohydrate is polar molecule, so that it is attached to polar group like hydroxyl group. When monosaccharide is attached to lipid it is called as glycolipid and in this sugar like galactose is attached to hydroxyl group which is present at third carbon of glycerol backbone or hydroxyl group o sphingosine.