Question

What is the chemical structure of a triglyceride?

Answer 1

Triglycerides are the main constituents of vegetable oils and animal fats. Triglycerides have lower densities than water (they float on water), and at normal room temperatures may be solid or liquid. When solid, they are called "fats" or "butters" and when liquid they are called "oils". A triglyceride, also called triacylglycerol (TAG), is a chemical compound formed from one molecule of glycerol and three fatty acids.

Triglycerides are formed by combining glycerol with three fatty acid molecules. Alcohols have a hydroxyl (HO-) group. Organic acids have a carboxyl (-COOH) group. Alcohols and organic acids join to form esters. The glycerol molecule has three hydroxyl (HO-) groups. Each fatty acid has a carboxyl group (-COOH). In triglycerides, the hydroxyl groups of the glycerol join the carboxyl groups of the fatty acid to form ester bonds.

The three fatty acids are usually different, but many kinds of triglycerides are known. The chain lengths of the fatty acids in naturally occurring triglycerides vary, but most contain 16, 18, or 20 carbon atoms. Natural fatty acids found in plants and animals are typically composed of only even numbers of carbon atoms, reflecting the pathway for their biosynthesis from the two-carbon building-block acetyl CoA. Bacteria, however, possess the ability to synthesise odd- and branched-chain fatty acids. As a result, ruminant animal fat contains odd-numbered fatty acids, such as 15, due to the action ofbacteria in the rumen.

Here's an example of a triglyceride.

The triglyceride structural formula above is typical of olive oil. It consists of two radicals of oleic acid and one of palmitic acid attached to glycerol (the vertical carbon chain). The small squares represent the fatty acid components of the glyceride molecules. The picture on the right shows the three-dimensional molecular structure of tristearin, a triglyceride with three stearic acid radicals. Oxygen atoms are shown in red, carbon atoms as dark gray, and hydrogen atoms as blue. Tristearin is found as a minor component in many natural fats.

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