Lipophilicity

A substance is ( ancient Greek of. " Fat loving", from λίπος lipos " grease" and φíλος philos " loving", " friend " ) as lipophilic referred if they can dissolve well in fats and oils or fats and oils in turn solve well can. Examples of lipophilic materials are petroleum oils, vegetable oils and tetrahydrocannabinol, the major active ingredient of cannabis.

Lipophilic substances are often simultaneously hydrophobic ( water insoluble), that is water repellent. Substances which are lipophilic and hydrophilic are called amphiphilic. The opposite of lipophilicity is lipophobicity.

Here, for the sake of accuracy it should be noted that hydrophobic substances actually repel any water. It is rather that water-insoluble substances, such as fats are, in a very " ordered state ". In principle, the small water molecules with the large fat molecules can interact, but in order to solve fats that moving water molecules to the fat molecules would align themselves very orderly. This alignment is very unlikely to result in fluid and thus it is not realized by the molecules. The insolubility of water in the fat and vice versa is thus an effect that is due to the entropy. Closed systems aim to maximize their entropy. A high entropy corresponds here to a high degree of disorder (see also thermodynamics and statistical mechanics).

Many flavors and vitamins are lipophilic, which is why you called fat as a flavor carrier, which is often improved in the form of butter or the " dash of cream " the taste of a dish. In addition, oils and fats can improve the absorption and utilization of vitamins. A good example of this are the carotenes as an important precursor of vitamin A metabolism.