Horomones - hydrophilic and hydophobic properties - dicatate their purpose?

Their hydrophilic/hydrophobic properties dictate where they act- hydrophilic cannot cross cell membrane so work on membrane-bound receptors, resulting in second messenger cascades. These can for example activate an enzyme- fast acting.

Hydrophobic hormones can enter the cell and directly influence gene transcription, 'switching on' a gene, resulting in new proteins being synthesised- slower acting.

This means that speed and duration of action are both determined by hydrophobic/philic properties.

Does this help? Will try and find a credible link.

Hormone differs according to their target and distance they need to travel to their target. To classify hormones there are generally 4 kinds:

paracrine - target is nearby, maybe a number of cells away
autocrine - target is the cell that released the hormone, that's the target is itself
endocrine - hormone that is released into blood stream direcly
exocrine - hormone that is secreted into a duct and there wait for a signal to release it

hydrophilic vs hydrophobic hormone is dependent on its target. If the target it intracellular (inside a cell), then the hormone needs to travel into the cell through the cell membrane which is hydrophobic. So a hydrophobic hormone would be best for this purpose because then it can get through the hydrophobic plasma membrane and get to its target. Conversely, a hydrophilic hormone is one that cannot get through the plasma membrane easily and therefore is best for targeting receptors on the surface of cells.

check dis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormones