Fatty acid derivatives

Triglycerides

Triglycerides (chemical name triacylglycerol), the principal means of storing fatty acids in biological systems, are a class of compounds that consist of glycerol (a three-carbon trihydroxy alcohol) with a fatty acid linked to each of the three OH groups by an ester bond. An example of a typical triglyceride is tristearin. Because this molecule contains only one type of fatty acid, it is referred to as a simple triglyceride. Almost all naturally occurring triglyceride molecules, however, contain more than one type of fatty acid; when two or more in a given molecule are different, it is called a mixed triglyceride. For any specific combination of three fatty acids, three different molecules are possible, depending upon which of the three fatty acids is bonded to the central carbon of glycerol. Considering the numbers of common saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, it is evident that there are a great many different triglycerides.