fatty acid
Sign in to savecarboxylic acid with a long aliphatic chain, either saturated or unsaturated
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A fatty acid is a type of organic molecule made up of a long chain of carbon and hydrogen atoms attached to an acidic group, and it can be either saturated (fully filled with hydrogen) or unsaturated (containing some double bonds). Fatty acids are important because they serve as a key building block for fats in foods and in your body, and they play essential roles in energy storage, cell structure, and various biological functions.
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Three-dimensional representations of several fatty acids. Saturated fatty acids have perfectly straight chain structure. Unsaturated ones are typically bent, unless they have a trans configuration. In chemistry, particularly in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an unbranched chain of an even number of carbon atoms, from 4 to 28. Fatty acids are a major component of the lipids (up to 70% by weight) in some species such as microalgae but in some other organisms are not found in their standalone form, but instead exist as three main classes of esters: triglycerides, phospholipids, and cholesteryl esters. In any of these forms, fatty acids are both important dietary sources of fuel for animals and important structural components for cells.
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