Tag: lipids and their function

Palmitic acid or hexadecanoic acid was discovered by Edmond Fremy. It is commonly found in plants, animals and microorganisms.Its chemical formula is CH$ _3$(CH$ _2$)$ _{14}$COOH.It is a saturated fatty acid.

Steroids are crystallisable lipids having four hydrocarbon rings consisting of three cyclohexane and one cyclopentane ring and a long hydrocarbon side chain. Fatty acids are absent. In animals, sterols are precursors of steroid hormones and vitamin D. Cholesterol is a sterol of animal systems which forms bile salts, is a component of plasma membrane and hormones.

Essential fatty acids are those fatty acid which plays an important role in the biological process and they can be metabolized easily. These acts as a fuel rather getting deposited as fat in the body. The human body cannot synthesize essential fatty acids. Alpha-linolenic acid and linoleic acid are the two essential fatty acid. It was discovered by Evans and Burr.

Lanolin is also known as wool fat, wool grease or wool wax. It is secreted by the sebaceous glands of wool-bearing animals. It is obtained by the sheep which has been raised specifically for wool. It helps the sheep to shedd water from their coats and protect them from changing environmental conditions. Wax is a long chain of sterol ester. It is also used in commercial production of lubricants, rust-preventive coatings, shoe polish.

Unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature as they have double bonds. The essential fatty acids like alpha-linolenic acid and linoleic acid are unsaturated as they have double bonds. Sunflower oil is a non- volatile oil. It is a mixture of mostly oleic acid (omega-9)-linoleic acid (omega-6). The composition precisely comprises of  59% linoleic acid, oleic acid 30%, stearic acid 6%, and palmitic acid is 5%.

Saturated fatty acids have single bond and are solid at room temperature. Hydrogenation is the process which involves the addition of hydrogen in the presence of nickel, palladium or platinum. On addition of hydrogen, the double bonds of unsaturated fatty acids are reduced to saturated fatty acid. Stearic acid is a saturated fatty acid as it has single carbon bonds. It has eighteen carbon with chemical formula of  C$ _{18}$H$ _{36}$O$ _2$. It can be produced by saponification of the triglycerides.