Hydrolysis of an Ester

Vegetable oils and animal fats are naturally occurring lipids in plants or animals. Oils and fats are often in the form of triglycerides, which are formed from a molecule of glycerol and three fatty acids. A fatty acid is a weak carboxylic acid with a hydrocarbon chain as the functional group. In the triglyceride, the three fatty acids are linked to the molecule of glycerol by ester bonds. A triglyceride, therefore, has three ester groups, making the molecule a triester.

An ester is a type of organic molecule that is like a carboxylic acid, with the hydrogen of the hydroxyl replaced by an alkyl or aryl group. This group is labeled R-prime to show that it may be different from the R-group on the other side. In a triglyceride, R-prime is the glycerol backbone, and each R-group is the chain of a fatty acid.

Fatty acids with double bonds in their carbon chains are known as unsaturated fatty acids. These double bonds tend to be in the cis conformation, which puts a bend in the chain. Triglycerides with these bent chains can't fit closely together, so the attractive forces between them are typically long-range and weak.

Fatty acids with only single bonds between the carbon atoms are satu