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Industrially, fatty acids are produced by the hydrolysis of the ester linkages in a fat or biological oil (both of which are triglycerides), with the removal of glycerol. See oleochemicals.

1 Saturated

Saturated fatty acids are of the form

where

Some saturated fatty acids are:

• Butyric: CH₃(CH₂)₂COOH
• Lauric (dodecanoic acid): CH₃(CH₂)₁₀COOH
• Myristic (tetradecanoic acid): CH₃(CH₂)₁₂COOH
• Palmitic (hexadecanoic acid): CH₃(CH₂)₁₄COOH
• StearicStearic acid also called octadecanoic acid is one of the many useful types of saturated fatty acids that comes from many animal and vegetable fats and oils. It is a waxy solid, and its chemical formula is CH(CH)COOH. Its name comes from the Greek word, st (octadecanoic acid): CH₃(CH₂)₁₆COOH
• ArachidicArachidic acid also called eicosanoic acid is a saturated fatty acids found in peanut oil. It melts at 75. 4°C and its chemical formula is CH(CH)COOH. (eicosanoic acid): CH₃(CH₂)₁₈COOH

2 Unsaturated

Unsaturated fatty acids are of similar form, except that one or more alkeneAn alkene is one of the three classes of unsaturated hydrocarbons that contain at least one carbon- carbon double bond and have the general molecular formula of CH (the other two being alkynes and arenes). The simplest alkene is CH, which has the common n functional groupIn ecology functional groups are collections of organisms based on morphological, physiological, behavioral, biochemical, or environmental responses or on trophic criteria. In organic chemistry functional groups are submolecular structural motifs, characts exist along the chain, substituting singly- bondIn chemistry, a chemical bond is the force which holds together atoms in molecules or crystals. In many simple compounds, valence bond theory and the concept of oxidation number can be used to predict molecular structure and composition. Similarly, theoried

part of the chain with doubly-bonded

portions (this is, with carbons attached with a double bond to another carbon). In most of these, each double bond has 3n carbon atoms after it, for some n, and are all cisThis article is about uses of the word "cis"; for the abbreviation "CIS" see CIS. Cis is a Latin word meaning "on the same side" and is the opposite of trans''. Its uses include: In chemistry, a double bond in which the greater radical on both ends is on bonds.

There are two different ways to make clear where this double bonds are located in the molecule. For example:

Delta-9,12 or Δ^9,12 : The double bond are the ninth and twelfth carbon-carbon bond counting from the end of the chain with the carboxyl group.

Omega-3 or Ω^-3 : The first double bond is the third carbon-carbon bond counting from the end of the chain most distant from the carboxyl group. The next

• Alpha Linolenic CH₃CH₂CH=CHCH₂CH=CHCH₂CH=CH(CH₂)₇COOH , is an omega-3 fatty acid.
• Linoleic acid......CH₃(CH₂)₄CH=CHCH₂CH=CH(CH₂)₇COOH , Linoleic and Arachidonic are omega-6 fatty acids.
• Oleic acid...........CH₃(CH₂)₇CH=CH(CH₂)₇COOH , oleic and erucic are omega-9 fatty acid s.

Stearic and Oleic acid are both 18 C fatty acids. They differ only in that stearic acid is saturated with H, while oleic acid is an unsaturated fatty acid (with two less H than the anterior).

Essential fatty acids or polyunsaturated fatty acids are fatty acids that are required in the human diet. This means they cannot be synthesized by the body and must be obtained from food. We can easily make saturated fatty acids and unsaturated fatty acids that have one double bond ( monounsaturated fatty acids), but we do not have the proper enzymes to synthesize unsaturated fatty acids that have more than one double bond (polyunsaturated fatty acids).

These essential fatty acids are very important to our immune system and to help us regulate our blood pressure, for they are used to make essential compounds, such as prostaglandins.