: any compound (such as a surfactant or sphingolipid) composed of molecules that have a polar water-soluble group attached to a water-insoluble hydrocarbon chain : an amphiphilic compound
Biological amphiphiles form vesicles central to cell function and are principally lipids of molecular weight less than 1 kilodalton.—Dennis E. Discher and Adi Eisenberg, Science, 9 Aug. 2002
also: a molecule of such a compound
It takes advantage of the fact that a class of molecules called amphiphiles are water-soluble on only one end. —Popular Mechanics, December 1998
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