Lauric acid

Lauric acid is a saturated fatty acid with 12 carbon atoms. It occurs abundantly in coconut oil and palm kernel oil and is used in food, cosmetics, and chemical manufacturing.

Fatty acid: A carboxylic acid with a hydrocarbon chain, commonly found as a component of fats and oils. Lauric acid is one member of this broad family of lipid building blocks.
Coconut oil: An edible oil extracted from the kernel or meat of mature coconuts, rich in saturated fats. Lauric acid is its predominant fatty acid, making the oil a major natural source.
Fatty acid oxidation: Metabolic pathways that break down fatty acids to generate acetyl-CoA and energy. Cells can degrade lauric acid through these pathways after releasing it from dietary fats.
Capric acid: A saturated fatty acid with ten carbon atoms. Its shorter chain contrasts with lauric acid’s twelve-carbon chain.
Saturated fat: A fat whose fatty-acid chains contain no carbon–carbon double bonds. Lauric acid’s chain has no double bonds, the defining feature of saturation.
Palm kernel oil: An edible oil extracted from the seed of the African oil palm, rich in lauric acid. It provides another major commercial source of lauric acid.
Beta oxidation: A metabolic process that shortens fatty-acid chains by two carbon atoms per cycle. Lauric acid’s twelve-carbon chain is progressively shortened through this pathway.
Myristic acid: A saturated fatty acid with fourteen carbon atoms. It is the next common saturated fatty acid above lauric acid in chain length.
Carboxylic acid: An organic compound containing a carboxyl group, written –COOH. This functional group gives lauric acid its acidic head and helps it form salts.
Sodium lauryl sulfate: An anionic surfactant used in detergents and personal-care products. Lauric acid can supply the twelve-carbon chain used to manufacture this surfactant.

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