Dodecanoic acid, also known as lauric acid or dodecanoate, is a member of the class of compounds known as medium-chain fatty acids. Medium-chain fatty acids are fatty acids with an aliphatic tail that contains between 4 and 12 carbon atoms. Thus, dodecanoic acid is considered to be a fatty acid lipid molecule. Dodecanoic acid is practically insoluble (in water) and a weakly acidic compound (based on its pKa). Dodecanoic acid can be synthesized from dodecane. Dodecanoic acid is also a parent compound for other transformation products, including but not limited to, 12-bromododecanoic acid, N-dodecanoylsphingosine, and N-dodecanoylsphingosine 1-phosphate. Dodecanoic acid can be found in a number of food items such as salmonberry, tea, tartary buckwheat, and ohelo berry, which makes dodecanoic acid a potential biomarker for the consumption of these food products. Dodecanoic acid can be found primarily in most biofluids, including blood, feces, sweat, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), as well as throughout most human tissues. Dodecanoic acid exists in all living species, ranging from bacteria to humans. In humans, dodecanoic acid is involved in few metabolic pathways, which include adrenoleukodystrophy, x-linked, beta oxidation of very long chain fatty acids, and fatty acid biosynthesis. Dodecanoic acid is also involved in a couple of metabolic disorders, which include carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase deficiency and mitochondrial beta-oxidation of medium chain saturated fatty acids. Dodecanoic acid is a non-carcinogenic (not listed by IARC) potentially toxic compound. Lauric acid or systematically, dodecanoic acid, is a saturated fatty acid with a 12-carbon atom chain, thus having many properties of medium chain fatty acids, is a white, powdery solid with a faint odor of bay oil or soap. The salts and esters of lauric acid are known as laurates .
Belongs to the class of organic compounds known as medium-chain fatty acids. These are fatty acids with an aliphatic tail that contains between 4 and 12 carbon atoms.
