Capric acid

Capric acid, or decanoic acid, is a saturated fatty acid with ten carbon atoms. It occurs in some animal fats and plant oils and is classified as a medium-chain fatty acid.

Fatty acid: A fatty acid is a hydrocarbon chain ending in a carboxyl group. Capric acid is one member of this broad family of lipid building blocks.
Fatty acid beta-oxidation: A metabolic pathway that breaks fatty acids into acetyl-CoA units. Capric acid is degraded through repeated beta-oxidation cycles.
Coconut oil: An edible oil extracted from the kernel or meat of coconuts. Coconut oil contains capric acid among its medium-chain fatty acids.
Caprylic acid: An eight-carbon saturated fatty acid also called octanoic acid. It is a shorter medium-chain fatty acid often paired with capric acid in oils.
Carboxylic acid: An organic compound containing a carboxyl group, –COOH. This functional group gives capric acid its acidic head.
Medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase: A mitochondrial enzyme that catalyzes an early step in oxidation of medium-chain fatty acids. This enzyme acts on capric-acid-derived acyl-CoA during energy metabolism.
Goat milk: Milk produced by domestic goats and used as food and a source of dairy fats. Goat milk fat naturally contains capric acid, whose name is associated with goats.
Oleic acid: An eighteen-carbon monounsaturated fatty acid common in plant oils. Its long, unsaturated chain contrasts with capric acid’s shorter saturated chain.
Saturated fat: A fat whose fatty-acid chains contain no carbon–carbon double bonds. Capric acid’s carbon chain has no double bonds, the defining feature of saturation.
Carnitine shuttle: A transport system that moves long-chain fatty-acid groups into mitochondria. Medium-chain fatty acids such as capric acid rely less on this transport system.

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Caproic acidRelated: Its longer chain provides a nearby comparison within the same fatty-acid series.