Isomerism and healthy diet.
We are all concerned with trans fats.
Why we are worried about trans fat?
Because due to different geometry, the arrangements are quite different.
For example, the cis isomers don’t pack together.
So, due to that they have low viscosity and they are called good compounds.
Whereas, the trans isomers pack very tightly.
So, they are called bad ones.
So, the trans fats are not really good for our health.
If you look at monounsaturated fat, they generally raise the High Density Lipids or HDL which
is a good cholesterol and they lower the Low Density Lipids or the LDL.
Some examples are canola oil, olive oil, peanut oil, etcetera are good sources of this one.
Whereas, the healthy unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature, while the trans ones
and the saturated fats are always solids.
So, these are not good for our health.
You can see the different kinds of fat here.
So, this is the cis double bond and this is the trans double bond.
So, these compounds generally the trans isomers are not really good, you can see some of the
examples where they are found.
The cis isomer is the best one which is found in vegetable oils, where the saturated one
or the trans one are not good for our health.
And some other examples are Linoleic acid, it is important omega six fatty acid, it has
all cis isomer, it is found in the lipids of cell membranes, it is generally involved
in the growth during and after physical activity.
Another one is Arachidonic acid, it is also a polyunsaturated fatty acid, this is also
a all cis isomer, it is present in phospholipids and membranes, it is used as a anabolic bodybuilding
supplement.
Leukotrienes, these are a family of eicosanoid inflammatory mediators, they triggered contractions
in the smooth muscle lining muscles lining the bronchioles.
They act principally on a sub family of GPCR or G protein coupled receptors.
There are two major types LTA four and LTB four.
Then what we can see?
The isomers of retinal.
So, our vision actually requires a protein called rhodopsin.
So, rhodopsin however has a small helper molecule which is the cis eleven retinal.
This is actually made from vitamin A, when this is converted to all trans after exposer
to the light we can actually see.
Then the major problem is with Neonatal jaundice.
So, basically the babies which are born they get jaundice, the origin is the hemoglobin
in the blood produces bilirubin which is a yellow substance.
When it is produced it has to be expelled from our body and it is done by the liver.
But in the case of newborns when their liver is not mature enough, this bilirubin is not
actually expelled from the body, so that leads to jaundice and when it happens in the newborn
babies it is called Neonatal jaundice.
So, here we see we have two isomerisms, geometric isomerism here.
We have four Z isomer and which has to be converted to four E isomer or the fifteen
Z has to be converted into fifteen E isomer.
So, these are all the two reactions which has to occur when these two don’t occur
we have problem.
And, you can see the photo therapy is the only thing which can convert the isomerization
of these two double bonds.
With this we conclude our topic on stereoisomerism, mainly the geometric isomerism.
So, far in this module, we had seen about the basic principles of organic chemistry, construction
of Fourier molecular orbitals, reconstruction of reactions and hydrolysis mechanism, arrow
pushing, all those things we have studied so far.
And ,we have also studied about geometric isomerism, CIP rule and application of geometric isomerism
in healthy diet.
With that, we conclude this module, thank you.