Difference Between Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic

Thekey difference亲水和疏水之间亲水意味着热爱水，而疏水意味着防水.

“Hydro” means water. From the initial stages of earth’s evolution, water has been a major part of the earth. Today, water covers more than 70% of the earth surface. Since water is a universal solvent, it participates in most reactions. It is the most abundant inorganic compound in living matter. More than 75% of our body is composed of water. It is a component of cells and acts as a solvent and reactant. Water is the medium for almost all biological reactions. Therefore, the capacity of compounds to interact with water is crucial. The degree of this capacity is explained by the two terms hydrophilic and hydrophobic.

CONTENTS

1.Overview and Key Difference
2.什么是亲水性
3.What is Hydrophobic
4.Side by Side Comparison – Hydrophilic vs Hydrophobic in Tabular Form
5.概括

什么是亲水性?

Hydrophilic means water-loving. Water is apolar molecule. Hydrophilic substances are water-loving substances; therefore, they like to interact with water or they are dissolved in water. As the phrase “like dissolves like” says, to interact or dissolve in a polar molecule like water, the hydrophilic substance should also be polar. If there is even a part of a big molecule which is polar, that end can attract water. For example, thephospholipidmolecules, which forms the membrane of the cell, has a hydrophilic phosphate group. Though the whole molecule is not hydrophilic (the large lipid part of the molecule is hydrophobic), that phosphate head is hydrophilic; thus it interacts with water.

与这样的分子相反，有些物质非常亲水。例如，盐和糖非常容易吸引水。他们甚至有能力吸引空气中的水分，因此，当它们暴露于空气时，它们会随着时间的流逝而溶解。这是自发发生的，因为它在热力学上有利。这些物质倾向于在水中溶解，因为它们与水形成氢键。通常，亲水性物质具有电荷分离，这使它们具有极性，并能够与水结合氢。亲水性物质用于吸水并保持材料干燥。

什么是疏水？

Hydrophobic is the opposite of hydrophilic. As the name suggests, “hydro” means water, and “phobic” means fear. Hence, substances that don’t like water are known as hydrophobic. Therefore, they repel water molecules.

Non-polar substances show this kind of behaviour. In other words, hydrophobic substances like to interact with or dissolve in non-polar solvents like oil, hexane etc. Thus, hydrophobic substances are also known as lipophilic (fat-loving). When hydrophobic substances are in the water, they combine together and repel water molecules. Hydrophobic solvents are important to separate water-immiscible substances from water.

What is the Difference Between Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic?

Hydrophilic means water-loving while hydrophobic means fear of water or water-resistant. Therefore, hydrophilic substances interact with and dissolve in water, whereas hydrophobic substances do not show such behaviour. This is the key difference between hydrophilic and hydrophobic. Moreover, hydrophilic substances are polar, and hydrophobic substances are non-polar.

概括– Hydrophilic vs Hydrophobic

The key difference between hydrophilic and hydrophobic is that hydrophilic means water-loving while hydrophobic means water-resistant. Therefore, hydrophilic substances interact with and dissolve in water, whereas hydrophobic substances do not.

Image Courtesy:

1. “0302 Phospholipid Bilayer” ByOpenStax–(CC BY 4.0)通过Commons Wikimedia
2. “Water drop on a leaf” By Flickr user tanakawho – Flickr（CC由2.0）通过Commons Wikimedia