Lipids

The first major class of biochemicals that we will study in these lessons is the class known as lipids. This classification is rather broad, in that it includes virtually all of the biomolecules that are hydrophobic, if they do not, for some reason, belong in another category. For this reason it is kind of a catch-all category and in some ways it should be considered after everything else is done, because then you can say if it's hydrophobic and we haven't already talked about it, it's a lipid. Although there are many types of lipids, we will look at only four types and focus on just one.

The most common and most important group of lipids that we will discuss in this lesson are the fats and fatty acids (and closely related compounds). These are the compounds to which we will devote most of our attention.

But first we will mention a few other types of lipids: steroids, terpenes and waxes. Although these compounds are extremely important in their own right, they will be only briefly covered here.

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