Question

How many different types of triacylglycerols could incorporate the fatty acids shown in Fig. 9-1?

Short answer

40different types of triacylglycerol can be incorporated into the fatty acids shown in the figure.

Step-by-step solution

Triglycerides

A triglyceride is an ester made up of three fatty acids and glycerol. Triglycerides are divided into two categories:saturated and unsaturated fats.

Different types of triacylglycerols incorporated in fatty acid

The figure depicts the structural formulae of four fatty acids: stearic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, and -linolenic acid. On C₁ and C₃, there are 16 pairs of fatty acid residues. A molecule with distinct substituents at C₁ and C₃ is the same as one with reversed substitution order. As a result, only 10 fatty acid residues are unique out of 16. However, C₂ can have any of the four substituents. Thus, there is a total of 4 x 10 = 40 distinct triacylglycerolsthat can be integrated into fatty acids.