saturated fats have all or predominantly single bonds.
saturated fats have all or predominantly single bonds.
what kind of bonds do saturated fats have?
all or predominantly single bonds
a saturated fat is a type of fat in which the fatty acid chains have all or predominantly single bonds. a fat is made of two kinds of smaller molecules: glycerol and fatty acids. fats are made of long chains of carbon (c) atoms. some carbon atoms are linked by single bonds (-c-c-) and others are linked by double bonds (-c=c-). double bonds can react with hydrogen to form single bonds. they are called saturated, because the second bond is broken and each half of the bond is attached to (saturated with) a hydrogen atom. most animal fats are saturated. the fats of plants and fish are generally unsaturated. saturated fats tend to have higher melting points than their corresponding unsaturated fats, leading to the popular understanding that saturated fats tend to be solids at room temperatures, while unsaturated fats tend to be liquid at room temperature with varying degrees of viscosity (meaning both saturated and unsaturated fats are found to be liquid at body temperature).
saturated fat
fats and oils are categorized according to the number and bonding of the carbon atoms in the aliphatic chain. fats that are saturated fats have no double bonds between the carbons in the chain. unsaturated fats have one or more double bonded carbons in the chain. the nomenclature is based on the non-acid (non-carbonyl) end of the chain. this end is called the omega end or the n-end. thus alpha-linolenic acid is called an omega-3 fatty acid because the 3rd carbon from that end is the first double bonded carbon in the chain counting from that end. some oils and fats have multiple double bonds and are therefore called polyunsaturated fats. unsaturated fats can be further divided into cis fats, which are the most common in nature, and trans fats, which are rare in nature. unsaturated fats can be altered by reaction with hydrogen effected by a catalyst. this action, called hydrogenation, tends to break all the double bonds and makes a fully saturated fat. to make vegetable shortening, then, liquid "cis"-unsaturated fats such as vegetable oils are hydrogenated to produce saturated fats, which have more desirable physical properties e.g., they melt at a desirable temperature (30–40 °c), and store well, whereas polyunsaturated oils go rancid when they react with oxygen in the air. however, trans fats are generated during hydrogenation as contaminants created by an unwanted side reaction on the catalyst during partial hydrogenation.
fat