View Single Post
  #4  
Old October 22nd, 2005, 07:24
RobJim RobJim is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 220
RobJim is on a distinguished road
Default

I didn't mean to offend you. A lot of students come here and simply copy their homework problems word for word into a thread and expect us to answer them for them. This is something I try to avoid doing.

From what I understand cell membranes are made of phospholipids arranged in a bilayer with the polar parts on the outside of the layer and the nonpolar parts on the inside of the bilayer. There are also proteins on one of the sides or going through the bilayer. Hydrocarbons are molecules with only carbon and hydrogen atoms. If there were any in the membrane, they'd be trapped inside the bilayer with the nonpolar parts of the phospholipids.

Can you explain what you mean when you say there are hydrocarbons in the membrane? What hydrocarbons are you referring to?

I suppose it's possible that unsaturated hydrocarbons might react under some conditions with sugars. I don't know offhand of such reactions between alkenes or alkynes and sugars but that doesn't mean there aren't any.

Take a look here for info about the cell membrane:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_membrane