![]() Further, depending on the condition, these micelles can be single-layer lipidic spheres or bilayer lipidic spheres (which are better known as liposomes). Thus, phospholipid in water has the capability to form micelles. As a result of this, the phospholipid head and tail form a micellar structure (micelles are small droplet-like structures). This is because, being amphiphilic in nature, the polar or the water-loving head group tends to move towards the water molecule while the non-polar, hydrophobic tails tend to move away from the water molecules. S elf-assembly is a characteristic feature of phospholipids. (Figure 1) Being amphiphilic in nature, phospholipid molecules when exposed to water or an aqueous environment, self-assemble to form bilayer or micellar structure. Phospholipids are amphipathic or amphiphilic lipids, i.e., the non-polar fatty acid tails make phospholipid hydrophobic whereas the polar head makes phospholipid hydrophilic. An example is a phospholipid.Īmphiphilic (Greek word-‘a mphi’ means “ both“ ‘philic’ means “ loving“) molecules are those molecules that have an affinity towards both water molecules as well as lipid molecules. Figure 1: Amphipathic molecules are chemical compounds containing both polar and nonpolar (apolar) portions in their structure. Are phospholipids hydrophobic? … or Are phospholipids hydrophilic? The presence of polar (or hydrophilic or water-loving) head group and non-polar (or hydrophobic or lipid-loving) tail impart the amphiphilic nature to these molecules. The fatty acid chains form the hydrophobic or lipophilic or non-polar tail whereas the esterified phosphate group forms the hydrophilic or polar head group. Phospholipids are basically complex lipids. Characteristically, a phospholipid molecule has a polar head group and a non-polar tail group. A phospholipid is composed of a glycerol backbone attached on one end to two fatty acids and the other end has the esterified phosphoric acid and an organic alcoholic group.
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