Question

Phosphoacylglycerols should remind you of soaps (Section 3.6). In what ways are these compounds similar?

Short answer

Answer

Phosphoacylglycerols are similar to soaps as they comprise a polar head region and a nonpolar tail region.

Step-by-step solution

Phosphoacylglycerols

Phosphoacylglycerols are also named phosphoglycerides. They comprise a category of lipid found in huge amounts. They constitute a primary part of several cell membranes.

Soaps

Soaps constitute of water-soluble compounds which are created using saponification reaction. Combining bases like NaOH or KOH with vegetable or animal oil(fat) leads to the generation of a soap.

Similarity between phosphoacylglycerols and soaps

Soaps and phosphoacylglycerols comprise of hydrophobic and hydrophilic components. Both the components include an ionic "head" attracted to polar solvents like water.

This head's size is small compared to the hydrophobic region, comprising one or two long hydrocarbon chains. These nonpolar chains contain only C-C and C-H bonds and display Vander Waals forces.

The similarity between phosphoacylglycerols and soaps