Explain why Triglycerides are not considered to be polymers?

Answer 1

Triglycerides are made up of 3 fatty acids and a glycerol molecule. Polymers are generally made up of repeating sub-units such as sugars in a carbohydrate or amino acids in the case of a protein. All of these sub units will be very similar to each other where as fatty acids and glycerol have a completely different structure to each other

Answer 2

Polymers are generally considered to be very large molecules in which a single smaller molecule is linked together many many times. A triglyceride is just a molecule of glycerol with 3 (usually different) fatty acids linked to it. It doesn't really fit the description of a polymer.

Answer 3

A polymer is created when a basic chemical unit is repeatedly joined to itself to form a long chain or sheet or matrix. eg ethylene gas is polymerised to give polythene plastic. Triglycerides are formed from the joining of three fatty acids to one glycerol molecule. Not necessarily the same three fatty acids. There is therefore no basic repeated unit in triglycerides.

Answer 4

They don't bond to each other. It is three fatty acids bonded to glycerin. There really is no monomer except fatty acids but they aren't bound to each other.