Topic summary
Long-chain fatty acid
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Fatty acid.
Length of fatty acids
- Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are fatty acids with aliphatic tails of five or fewer carbons (e.g. butyric acid).
- Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) are fatty acids with aliphatic tails of 6 to 12 carbons, which can form medium-chain triglycerides.
- Long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs) are fatty acids with aliphatic tails of 13 to 21 carbons.
- Very long chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) are fatty acids with aliphatic tails of 22 or more carbons.