Odd Carbon Fatty Acid
Odd-chain fatty acids are those fatty acids that contain an odd number of carbon atoms. In addition to being classified according to their Fatty acid#Saturated fatty acids, saturation or Fatty acid#Unsaturated fatty acids, unsaturation, fatty acids are also classified according to their odd or even numbers of constituent carbon atoms. With respect to natural abundance, most fatty acids are even chain, e.g. Palmitic acid, palmitic (C16) and Stearic acid, stearic (C18). In terms of physical properties, odd and even fatty acids are similar, generally being colorless, soluble in alcohols, and often somewhat oily. The odd-chain fatty acids are biosynthesized and metabolized slightly differently from the even-chained relatives. In addition to the usual C12-C22 long chain fatty acids, some Very long chain fatty acid, very long chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) are also known. Some of these VLCFAs are also of the odd-chain variety. Metabolism Biosynthesis The most common OCFA are the satu ...
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