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A-Level Biology OCR A

Bilayer Water Effect Non Polar Phospholipids Heads Intereact Explain

Water is necessary for the phospholipid bilayer's stability, but organic solvents disrupt these interactions, increasing membrane permeability as they disperse.

Water is essential for maintaining the phospholipid bilayer's integrity through interactions with the hydrophilic heads and hydrophobic tails. Organic solvents reduce the bilayer's ability to interact with water, causing it to disperse and increasing permeability.

Front Explain the effect of changing solvent concentration on the permeability of cell membranes.
Back Effect of water:
  • Always must be some water present for bilayer to be maintained
  • Non-polar tails of phospholipids are oriented away from water, forming bilayer with hydrophobic core
  • Charged phosphate heads intereact with water helping to keep bilayer intact
  • When phospholipids cant intereact with water the bilayer can no longer exist bc polar heads are not attracted to non-polar substances

Effect of organic solvent:
  • As conc. increases around bilayer, its ability to interact with water decreases and bilayer starts to disperse

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