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Lauric acid
 
 
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Lauric acid (systematically: dodecanoic acid), a saturated
Saturated fat

Saturated fat is fat that consists of triglycerides containing only Saturation fatty acid radicals. There are several kinds of naturally occurring saturated fatty acids, which differ by the number of carbon atoms - from 1 to 24....
 fatty acid
Fatty acid

In chemistry, especially biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid often with a long unbranched aliphatic tail , which is either saturation or Unsaturated compound....
, is a white, powdery solid with a faint odor of bay oil or soap.

ic acid is the main acid in coconut oil
Coconut oil

Coconut oil, also known as coconut butter, is a tropical oil with many applications. It is extracted from copra . Coconut oil constitutes seven percent of the total export income of the Philippines, the world's largest exporter of the product....
 and in palm kernel oil (not to be confused with palm oil), and is believed to have antimicrobial properties. It is also found in human milk (5.8% of total fat), cow's milk (2.2%), and goat's milk (4.5%).

ic acid is inexpensive, has a long shelf-life, and is non-toxic and safe to handle.






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Lauric acid (systematically: dodecanoic acid), a saturated
Saturated fat

Saturated fat is fat that consists of triglycerides containing only Saturation fatty acid radicals. There are several kinds of naturally occurring saturated fatty acids, which differ by the number of carbon atoms - from 1 to 24....
 fatty acid
Fatty acid

In chemistry, especially biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid often with a long unbranched aliphatic tail , which is either saturation or Unsaturated compound....
, is a white, powdery solid with a faint odor of bay oil or soap.

Occurrence

Lauric acid is the main acid in coconut oil
Coconut oil

Coconut oil, also known as coconut butter, is a tropical oil with many applications. It is extracted from copra . Coconut oil constitutes seven percent of the total export income of the Philippines, the world's largest exporter of the product....
 and in palm kernel oil (not to be confused with palm oil), and is believed to have antimicrobial properties. It is also found in human milk (5.8% of total fat), cow's milk (2.2%), and goat's milk (4.5%).

Uses

Lauric acid is inexpensive, has a long shelf-life, and is non-toxic and safe to handle. Thus, it is often used in laboratory investigations of melting point depression
Melting point depression

Melting point depression is a term referring to the phenomenon of reduction of the melting point of a material with reduction of its size. This phenomenon is very prominent in nanotechnology which melt at temperatures hundreds of degrees lower than bulk materials....
. Lauric acid is a solid at room temperature but melts easily in boiling water, so liquid lauric acid can be treated with various solutes and used to determine their molecular masses.

Health effects


Lauric acid is able to raise metabolism, believed to be due to its activation of 20% of thyroidal hormones, which otherwise lie dormant. This is supposed from lauric acid's release of enzymes in the intestinal tract which activate the thyroid. This could account for the metabolism-raising properties of coconut oil
Coconut oil

Coconut oil, also known as coconut butter, is a tropical oil with many applications. It is extracted from copra . Coconut oil constitutes seven percent of the total export income of the Philippines, the world's largest exporter of the product....
.

Further reading