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Can any one tell me the difference between oils and fats?structural difference?

  • thanks for all the answers, i really find it helpful, but one question; why does the mp and bp depend on how saturated oils and fats are? Is it because that its saturated that it wont additionally react? im not sure about the reason, can any one just give me a little more detail on just that part? sorry to trouble you...but thanks for the help.

  • Answer:

    Well, chemically there is no difference between oils and fats, the group term being lipids. They are all mostly (>95%) triglycerides, meaning three fatty acids linked to each of the three OH groups of glycerol, with the remaining being mono and diglycerides. However, in routine use we generally tend to refer to the solid lipids as "fats", examples being butter and lard. They are solids at room temperature because they are rich in saturated fatty acids (C4-c18), whereas the so called"oils" are liquids at room temperature. This is so because they are mostly made up of unsaturated fatty acids. The m.p and b.p. (usually referred to as smoke point of an oil or fat) primarily differ based on how much of saturated fatty acids it contains.

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Well, chemically there is no difference between oils and fats, the group term being lipids. They are all mostly (>95%) triglycerides, meaning three fatty acids linked to each of the three OH groups of glycerol, with the remaining being mono and diglycerides. However, in routine use we generally tend to refer to the solid lipids as "fats", examples being butter and lard. They are solids at room temperature because they are rich in saturated fatty acids (C4-c18), whereas the so called"oils" are liquids at room temperature. This is so because they are mostly made up of unsaturated fatty acids. The m.p and b.p. (usually referred to as smoke point of an oil or fat) primarily differ based on how much of saturated fatty acids it contains.

blackbeauty14

no

There's not really an obvious structural difference, they're classes of compounds like ketones and alcohols. I think generally fats are solid at room temperature and oils are liquid at room temperature. They both generally have long alkyl (C-H) chains that make them hydrophobic, but there are lots of variations like branching, saturated and unsaturated (depending on how many double bonds and "kinks" there are in the chains)... I think in includes lipids (like in cell walls, phospho-lipids with long hydrophobic carbon chains and bulky hydrophilic phosphate heads).

oils are substances which are in the liquid state and are soluble in organic solvents fats are mostly solids. refer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil

There's not really an obvious structural difference, they're classes of compounds like ketones and alcohols. I think generally fats are solid at room temperature and oils are liquid at room temperature. They both generally have long alkyl (C-H) chains that make them hydrophobic, but there are lots of variations like branching, saturated and unsaturated (depending on how many double bonds and "kinks" there are in the chains)... I think in includes lipids (like in cell walls, phospho-lipids with long hydrophobic carbon chains and bulky hydrophilic phosphate heads).

Someoneorother

oils are substances which are in the liquid state and are soluble in organic solvents fats are mostly solids. refer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil

no

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