Translations:Fatty acid/39/en

Acidity

Fatty acids do not show a great variation in their acidities, as indicated by their respective pK_a. Nonanoic acid, for example, has a pK_a of 4.96, being only slightly weaker than acetic acid (4.76). As the chain length increases, the solubility of the fatty acids in water decreases, so that the longer-chain fatty acids have minimal effect on the pH of an aqueous solution. Near neutral pH, fatty acids exist at their conjugate bases, i.e. oleate, etc.