Hydrolysis of Fats
Home Up Hydrolysis of Fats Glycerol to Acetyl CoA Fatty Acid Spiral Citric Acid Cycle Electron Transport System

 

Hydrolysis of Fats

Let's focus on the reaction in the very top part of this diagram, converting the fat to glycerol and fatty acids.

66rxn04.JPG (4780 bytes)
This first step is fairly simple and has been described before (and is shown in Example 9 in your workbook). The three ester bonds in the triester are hydrolyzed to form glycerol and three fatty acids. These R groups are not necessarily the same, therefore the fatty acids are not necessarily the same.

Equation for the hydrolysis of a fat. [66rxn05.JPG]

 

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