Abstract
It is customary in review articles on fatty acids to deplore the general refusal to adopt a single systematic chemical nomenclature and then for the author himself to use a mixture of systematic and trivial names. We shall be no exception but feel that the least we can do is to provide clues as to the solving of the various codes used by workers in all the fields of lipid research. The poor student will still, therefore, have to learn that stearic acid, stearate, C18:0 and 18:0 all refer to n-octadecanoic acid, and to commit to memory all the trivial and sometimes tongue-twisting names. The basic chemical nomenclature is based on the hydrocarbon chain having the largest number of carbon atoms, substituents usually being defined in position by counting from the carboxyl group as 1 or from carbon atom 2 as the α position.
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© 1980 M. I. Gurr and A. T. James
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Gurr, M.I., James, A.T. (1980). Fatty acids. In: Lipid Biochemistry: An Introduction. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5907-1_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5907-1_2
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