Translations:Triglyceride/20/en

IUPAC

In the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry's (IUPAC's) general chemical nomenclature for organic compounds, any organic structure can be named by starting from its corresponding hydrocarbon and then specifying differences so as to describe its structure completely. For fatty acids, for example, the position and orientation of carbon-carbon double bonds is specified counting from the carboxyl functional group. Thus, oleic acid is formally named (9Z)-octadec-9-enoic acid, which describes that the compound has:

• an 18 carbon chain ("octadec-") with the carbon of the carboxyl ("-oic acid") given the number 1
• all carbon-carbon bonds are single except for the double bond then joins carbon 9 ("9-en") to carbon 10
• the chain connects to each of the carbons of the double bond on the same side (hence, cis, or "(9Z)" - the "Z" being an abbreviation for the German word zusammen, meaning together).

IUPAC nomenclature can also handle branched chains and derivatives where hydrogen atoms are replaced by other chemical groups. Triglycerides take formal IUPAC names according to the rule governing naming of esters. For example, the formal name propane-1,2,3-tryl 1,2-bis((9Z)-octadec-9-enoate) 3-(hexadecanoate) applies to the pheromone informally named as glyceryl 1,2-dioleate-3-palmitate, and also known by other common names including 1,2-dioleoyl-3-palmitoylglycerol, glycerol dioleate palmitate, and 3-palmito-1,2-diolein.