Discuss the Chemical Classification of Lipids and Highlight Their Biological Functions

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Discuss the chemical classification of lipids and highlight some of their biological functions. Lipids are a set of significant biological composites which contain hydrocarbons and are highly reduced forms of carbon. They are essential as they make up the building blocks of the structure and function of all living cells. As lipids are metabolized, they are oxidized to release great amounts of energy which makes them in fact useful to living organisms. Lipids are insoluble in water but moderately soluble in many organic solvents. Hence, lipids are categorized by a physical property rather than structural characteristics. Examples of lipids include fats, oils, waxes, certain vitamins, steroid hormones and most of the non-protein membrane of cells. The significance of lipids as well as some of their biological functions have been outlined in more detail further below. However, as there are so many lipids which are all significant for various reasons, a distinct classification system makes it easier for individuals to explore the diversity conveyed by lipids. A statement from an article reads, “Consecutively, lipid biology has become a foremost research target of the post genomic revolution and systems biology. To simplify international communication about lipids, a comprehensive classification of lipids with a common platform that is compatible with informatics requirements has been developed to deal with the massive amounts of data which will be generated by the lipid community. As an initial step in the development, the lipids are divided into eight categories, containing distinct classes and subclasses of molecules, which devise a common manner of representing the chemical structures of individual lipids and their derivatives. It is mainly driven by the discrete hydrophobic and hydrophilic fundamentals which comprise the lipid” [Ref ¹]. The eight categories
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