Amphiphile

Amphiphile ( noun: amphiphilicity ) ( from Ancient Greek ἀμφί amphi "on both sides " and φίλος philos " loving" ), ambiphilic ( noun: ambiphilic; mixing word from Latin and Greek with literal meaning " both loving" ) and amphipathic describe the chemical property of a substance to be both hydrophilic and also lipophilic. That is, it is well soluble in both polar solvents, and in non-polar solvents. This is due to the fact that the molecules have both hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions.

The best-known, polar solvent is water, thus the name hydrophilic. One type of hydrophobicity may be that the substance is readily soluble in fats or oils; It is then known as lipophilic.

Important amphiphilic substances are

• Surfactants that are used as soaps; they have just due to the amphiphilic property to have a cleansing effect
• Emulsifiers in food, for example lecithin
• Phospholipids, a main component of cell membranes
• Amphipathic helices; these serve to anchor proteins in a phospholipid membrane
• Non-ionic amphiphiles such as Polyoxyethanyl α - tocopheryl sebacate (PTS), which are used as solubilizers for organic molecules in water and permit reactions with transition metal catalysts at room temperature.

An important characteristic of amphiphilic substances, the formation of micelles and liposomes (one form of a biomembrane ).