Talk:Hydrophile

Simplification and figures needed
I fear that many intro students are not going to be able to understand this article.

Due to this topic's importants in biology, it should be able to be read and understood by someone without a college background in chemistry.

Also, some figures showing examples of hydrophilic and hydrophobic combounds should be included.

The sentence "Hydrophilic membrane filtration is used in several industries to filter various liquids and solids away from the funny stuff" could be improved, unfortunately I don't know what the "funny stuff" is to edit it. Maybe it could be changed to "other substances"? — Preceding unsigned comment added by TimConnellAU (talk • contribs) 19:17, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

Acewolf359 20:23, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

what's a hydrophilic polar head??? signed:angry student —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.57.170.30 (talk) 23:32, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

--61.7.141.21 (talk) 04:50, 23 February 2009 (UTC) Eh? I got here from the Cellulose page which says that Cellulose is hydrophilic, and is insoluble in water. Yet here hydrophilic is equated with solubility in water. Can somebody explain?


 * Hydrophilic is not an exact substitute in water. Hyrdophilic means that it attracts water and bonds to it, not necessarily dissolve in it.  By its structure, cellulose is is a polysaccharide, with polar OH groups through which it bonds to water.  However, cellulose is also a long polymer, with a carbon skeleton.  Cellulose will maintain its structure while bonding to water, much as a membrane would.  A membrane is not considered to dissolve in water, despite the fact that it forms hydrogen bonds with water. --Warmstar (talk) 21:24, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

While I really appreciated the content of this stub, as it helped me understand some of the effects a potentially new medication could have, I was offended by the use of the phrase "rule of thumb". I tried to find the article that was referenced, to determine whether or not the author of the article used the phrase, or the 'editor' used the phrase. Unfortunately, I was only able to find (a billion!) references to the article rather than the article itself. (It made me wonder if all of those people who referenced the article ever found it, or did they just reference Wikipedia? Wikipedia is a wonderful source, but as a research tool should be a place to research FROM.)  Anyway, I wonder if the editor knows where the phrase "rule of thumb" comes from? It comes from an old law that allowed a husband to beat his wife (read: property), as long as the stick/branch was no bigger around than his thumb. I personally don't want to read that phrase and be reminded of the different ways in which that is so unacceptable, but if the phrase is in the article and we should be accurate in our "quoting", so to speak, should the phrase stay? Or can the facts be listed without those three words? In the words of Ani DiFranco, "Words are like Vitamins, and Life is Short". Three words have a lot of power. Like, I Love You. (Okay, that was very long winded and had nothing to do with Chemistry. And by the way, I disagree with the very first comment.  I haven't taken (college) Chemistry YET, but I will be, and this Stub was mostly understandable.  But, I WAS prompted to create an account and be an active, rather than a passive, complaining reader!)  =}  Amy 06:05, 18 May 2010 (UTC)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Amyccarter (talk • contribs)


 * Okay, I'm going to edit myself. One would think I would have looked up "Rule of Thumb" in Wikipedia before I commented, but... well, I didn't.  I'm still leaving the comment, at least for a few days, because I noticed someone specifically added "rule of thumb".  Here's my quandry.  According to Wikipedia there's no "verifiable" proof that such a law actually existed (except for the Cartoon!), but it does say that the belief in the law has existed since 1782!!  Meanwhile Centuries have gone by and nothing's been fixed.  If the law morphed into something a man used to legally beat his wife, because his wife was property, that's WRONG.  The Centuries and Decades of believing that it was okay to do that is WRONG.  The Centuries and Decades of living in fear because your husband believed it was okay was WRONG.  For too long the association with that phrase, "rule of thumb", has been flat out WRONG.  I don't think it's possible to clean it up nice and new - shiny and smooth.  It will always be dark and hazy, with ill feelings from one corner or another.  Let us start over. Find a different phrase.  Educate those who need to know and pretty soon the phrase will be gone:::  Amy 07:10, 18 May 2010 (UTC)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Amyccarter (talk • contribs)

I've edited the heading to make navigation on this page easier. MYCETEAE - talk 20:35, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

Definition of hydrophilicity; difference from solubility, polarity
I removed the following erroneous sentence: A hydrophilic molecule is made up of alcohol and fatty acyl chains. This statement is incorrect on two counts. First, it gives the impression that this is the definition of hydrophilicity, when at best alcohols and fatty acids (carboxylic acids more generally) are examples of hydrophilic molecules. Second, it implies that all such molecules are hydrophilic, and I am not sure that this is accurate. Low molecular weight alcohols like methanol and ethanol are hydrophilic and are in fact miscible with water, but larger alcohols like 1-decanol are insoluble in water. Perhaps a chemist could clear this up, but I think at most we could say that decanol's —OH group is hydrophilic while the hydrocarbon chain is hydrophobic. As for fatty acyl groups, chain here typically refers to the hydrophobic portion of the molecule. This article needs to do a better job of distinguishing between hydrophilicity, solubility and (chemical) polarity. These terms are related but not necessarily interchangeable. For example amphipathic molecules may be insoluble in water while containing polar, hydrophilic portions (e.g. decanol). Also, I think it's accurate do describe monoatomic ions like K+ as hydrophilic—they are certainly soluble in water—even though they are not, strictly speaking, polar. There's lots of work to be done here! I think it would be great to have a chemist take a look at this, bearing in mind that this is a topic often introduced and discussed in high school biology classes, to students who have not yet taken chemistry. MYCETEAE - talk 20:35, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

Relevant old page history
Some old page history that used to be at the title "Hydrophile" can now be found at Talk:Hydrophile/Old history. Graham 87 08:55, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

Is the Greek relevant?
Is the second sentence necessary and/or relevant? I don't speak Greek so I have no idea what it means.Iit does not appear to be relevant, however. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.24.31.217 (talk) 17:40, 1 April 2015 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 18:35, 29 April 2016 (UTC)