Fatty acid

A fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with a long hydrocarbon chain. Fatty acids occur in fats and oils and are building blocks of many biological lipids.

Carboxylic acid: An organic compound containing a carboxyl group, written –COOH. The carboxyl group gives a fatty acid its acidic head.
Beta oxidation: A metabolic pathway that breaks fatty acyl chains into acetyl-CoA units. It is the principal route for extracting energy from many fatty acids.
Triacylglycerol: A lipid composed of glycerol esterified to three fatty acids. It stores fatty acids in a compact form for energy reserves.
Short-chain fatty acid: A fatty acid with a short carbon chain, commonly defined as containing fewer than six carbons. Its short chain contrasts with the long chains typical of fatty acids.
Hydrocarbon: A compound made only of carbon and hydrogen atoms. The long hydrocarbon chain forms most of a fatty acid’s structure.
Fatty acid synthesis: A pathway that builds fatty-acid chains from acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA. It makes new chains that can later enter lipids.
Phospholipid: A lipid containing phosphate and hydrophobic groups, commonly forming biological membranes. Fatty acids often supply its hydrophobic tails.
Medium-chain triglyceride: A triglyceride composed mainly of fatty acids with six to twelve carbon atoms. Its constituent chains are shorter and metabolized differently from long-chain fatty acids.
Saturated fat: A fat whose fatty-acid chains contain no carbon–carbon double bonds. Its chains are made from saturated fatty acids.
Acyl-CoA: A molecule in which a fatty acyl group is linked to coenzyme A by a thioester bond. Activation as acyl-CoA enables fatty acids to enter metabolic pathways.

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