Triglycerides, also called triglycerides or triesters, are so called because they have in their structural formula three groups of the organic ester function (R_COO_R).See its generic formula below, where the R corresponds to a hydrocarbon radical, that is, a carbon chain composed only of carbons and hydrogens, in which case it has more than 11 carbons.
He is one fatty material, which in everyday life corresponds to oils or fats essential to our diet, of vegetable origin (palm oil, cottonseed, peanuts, olives, corn, soybeans, sunflowers, coconut fat and cocoa butter) or animal fat (beef tallow, cod liver, butter made from milk, lard and oil extracted from fat from capybaras).
Since triglycerides are found in the form of fat in the food we consume; they circulate in our bloodstream and are stored in the body, in the adipose tissue; but it cannot be too much, as a high level of triglyceride can cause numerous health problems, including the development of pancreatitis and heart disease.
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If the triglyceride is a fat, it will have saturated fatty acid radicals in its structure (only single bonds). But if it is oil, it will predominate unsaturated fatty acid radicals (has double or triple bonds).
It is obtained through reactions between a glycerol and fatty acids (long-chain carboxylic acids, that is, organic compounds that have this carboxyl group: _COOH). The following is a generic glycerol formation reaction:
By Jennifer Fogaça
Graduated in Chemistry
Brazil School Team.
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
FOGAÇA, Jennifer Rocha Vargas. "What are triglycerides?"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/quimica/o-que-sao-triglicerideos.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
