These polar properties of water cause it to attract the polar head of the phospholipid molecule, which is said to be hydrophilic, and repel its nonpolar tail, which is said to be hydrophobic.

Biological cell membranes are made up of phospholipid building blocks that both attract and repel water. Phospholipids are hydrophilic thanks to their polar phosphate group “heads” and hydrophobic ...

Cell membranes are typically composed of a phospholipid bilayer. This bilayer contains a hydrophilic, or “water loving” head group, and a lipophilic, or “fat loving” tail, which is ...

The new discovery suggests ethanolamine is much more widespread. On Earth, it forms the hydrophilic head of phospholipid molecules that self-assemble into cell membranes. Rivilla and colleagues ...

The main components of most biomembranes are phospholipids — they have a polar phosphate head attached ... Like cell membranes, phospholipid vesicles have hydrophilic outer and inner surfaces ...

Working in the lab and applying both organic and computational chemistry, the researchers were able to form enzyme-free phospholipid ... whose molecule has a "head" containing a phosphate group ...