Pentadecylic acid, also known as pentadecanoic acid or C15:0, is an odd-chain

saturated fatty acid In chemistry, in particular in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an unbranched chain of an even number of carbon atoms, ...

. Its molecular formula is . It is a colorless solid. A laboratory preparation involves

permanganate A permanganate () is a chemical compound with the manganate(VII) ion, , the conjugate base of permanganic acid. Because the manganese atom has a +7 oxidation state, the permanganate(VII) ion is a strong oxidising agent. The ion is a transition ...

oxidation of 1-hexadecene (). It is one of the most common

odd-chain 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 saturation or unsaturation, fatty acids are also classified according to their odd or even numbers of co ...

s, which are rare in nature. Pentadecylic acid is found primarily in dairy fat, as well as in

ruminant Ruminants are herbivorous grazing or browsing artiodactyls belonging to the suborder Ruminantia that are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it in a specialized stomach prior to digestion, principally through microb ...

meat and some fish and plants. The

butterfat Butterfat or milkfat is the fatty portion of milk. Milk and cream are often sold according to the amount of butterfat they contain. Composition Butterfat is mainly composed of triglycerides. Each triglyceride contains three fatty acids. Butt ...

in cow

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

is its major dietary source, comprising 1.2% of cow milk fat. Rare genetic disorders causing unusually high concentrations of C15:0 and C17:0, including

Refsum disease Refsum disease is an autosomal recessive neurological disease that results in the over-accumulation of phytanic acid in cells and tissues. It is one of several disorders named after Norwegian neurologist Sigvald Bernhard Refsum (1907–1991). Ref ...

Zellweger syndrome Zellweger syndrome is a rare congenital disorder characterized by the reduction or absence of functional peroxisomes in the cells of an individual. It is one of a family of disorders called Zellweger spectrum disorders which are leukodystrophy, l ...

, and

propionic acidemia Propionic acidemia, also known as propionic aciduria or propionyl-CoA carboxylase deficiency (PCC deficiency), is a rare autosomal recessive metabolic disorder, classified as a branched-chain organic acidemia. The disorder presents in the ear ...

, confirmed endogenous synthesis of these odd-chain FAs in humans, involving alpha oxidation.

Research

Pentadecanoic acid has been compared to

eicosapentaenoic acid Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; also icosapentaenoic acid) is an omega−3 fatty acid. In physiological literature, it is given the name 20:5(''n''−3). It also has the trivial name timnodonic acid. In chemical structure, EPA is a carboxylic acid wi ...

(EPA) to evaluate the possibility that pentadecanoic acid is a previously unrecognized

essential fatty acid Essential fatty acids, or EFAs, are fatty acids that are required by humans and other animals for normal physiological function that cannot be synthesized in the body.⁠ As they are not synthesized in the body, the essential fatty acids al ...

References

External links

Safety data
{{Fatty acids Fatty acids Alkanoic acids

Research

See also

References

External links