Cerotic acid, or hexacosanoic acid, is a 26-
carbon
Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon ma ...
long-chain
saturated fatty acid with the
chemical formula
In chemistry, a chemical formula is a way of presenting information about the chemical proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound or molecule, using chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbols, ...
CH
3(CH
2)
24COOH. It is most commonly found in
beeswax
Beeswax (''cera alba'') is a natural wax produced by honey bees of the genus ''Apis''. The wax is formed into scales by eight wax-producing glands in the abdominal segments of worker bees, which discard it in or at the hive. The hive work ...
and
carnauba wax. It is a white solid, although impure samples appear yellowish.
The name is derived from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
word ''cerotus'', which in turn was derived from the
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...
word
κηρός (keros), meaning beeswax or honeycomb.
Cerotic acid is also a type of
very long chain fatty acid that is often associated with the disease
adrenoleukodystrophy
Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) is a disease linked to the X chromosome. It is a result of fatty acid buildup caused by peroxisomal fatty acid beta oxidation which results in the accumulation of very long chain fatty acids in tissues throughout the ...
, which involves the excessive saturation of unmetabolized fatty acid chains, including cerotic acid, in the
peroxisome
A peroxisome () is a membrane-bound organelle, a type of microbody, found in the cytoplasm of virtually all eukaryotic cells. Peroxisomes are oxidative organelles. Frequently, molecular oxygen serves as a co-substrate, from which hydrogen pe ...
.
See also
*
List of saturated fatty acids
*
Very long chain fatty acids A very-long-chain fatty acid (VLCFA) is a fatty acid with 22 or more carbons. Their biosynthesis occurs in the endoplasmic reticulum. VLCFA's can represent up to a few percent of the total fatty acid content of a cell.
Unlike most fatty acids, VL ...
References
Fatty acids
Alkanoic acids
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