Organic Compounds: Fats

13 days ago

In this video I go over the chemical definition of fat, including its breakdown into saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fat. I also go over white and brown fat cells that are major parts of the human body. In chemical terms, a fat usually means an aliphatic (non-aromatic) carboxylic acid in which at least one -OH group is replaced with -O-R where R is a linear (acyclic) saturated hydrocarbon missing one hydrogen. More definitions and terms are listed along side their timestamps.

Time stamps:

Fat is an ester of fatty acids: 0:00
Glycerol or glycerin is a polyol compound, containing multiply hydroxyl (-OH) groups: 3:11
Triglyceride is an ester of glycerol and 3 fatty acids: 3:50
- Glycerides or acylglycerols are esters from glycerol and fatty acids and are typically very hydrophobic (water fearing): 5:19
Fat often refers specifically to triglycerides: 5:43
- Vegetable oils and animal fats are mixtures of triglycerides: 6:26
Fat is a subgroup of lipids, which are insoluble in water but soluble in non-polar solvents : 6:37
Polarity is separation of electric charge in a molecule: 7:41
- Electric dipole moment is a measure of polarity: 7:54
Oil is nonpolar, viscous, hydrophobic (water fearing), and lipophilic (fat loving): 8:54
- Viscosity is the measure of resistance to deformation of a fluid: 9:49
Saturated fat has all single bonds on fatty acid chains, unsaturated as at least one double bond: 10:50
Table of saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated fats: 11:39
Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in cleaning and lubricating products. 13:35
- Salt is an ionic assembly of cations and anions, and is overall electrically neutral: 14:03
Adipose tissue or body fat is loose connective tissue composed mostly of adipocytes or fat cells: 15:17
White adipose tissue or white fat cells contain a single large lipid droplet, typically 20% of men's body weight, 25% in women, and used for energy storage: 15:55
Brown adipose tissue or brown fat cells or "baby fat" have several lipid droplets scattered throughout, and used to generate heat: 17:23
Beige or brite or "brown in white" fat cells are brown fat cells formed from stimulated white fat cells: 18:22
Fluorodeoxyglucose is a radio tracer: 19:10
Positron or antielectron is antimatter of electron (same mass but opposite charge): 19:51
Comparison between Brown, Beige, and White fat cells: 20:15