Linoleic Acid

linoleic acid

[¦lin·e¦lē·ik ′as·əd]

(biochemistry)

C₁₇H₃₁COOH A yellow unsaturated fatty acid, boiling at 229°C (14 mmHg), occurring as a glyceride in drying oils; obtained from linseed, safflower, and tall oils; a principal fatty acid in plants, and considered essential in animal nutrition; used in medicine, feeds, paints, and margarine. Also known as linolic acid; 9,12-octadecadienoic acid.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Linoleic Acid

 

a monobasic carboxylic acid with two isolated double bonds, CH₃(CH₂)₃ (CH₂CH=CH)₂(CH₂)₇COOH; a colorless oily liquid. Melting point, — 11°C; boiling point, 182°C (at 532 newtons per sq m, or 4 mm of mercury); density, 0.903 g/cm³ at 20°C.

Together with arachidonic acid and linolenic acid, linoleic acid is an irreplaceable fatty acid, necessary for normal vital activity. These acids are ingested by humans and animals with food, mainly in the form of complex lipids (triglycerides and phosphatides). A substantial quantity of linoleic acid in triglyceride form (up to 40–60 percent) is known to occur in many vegetable oils and animal fats, such as soy, cottonseed, sunflower, linseed, and hemp oils and whale blubber.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.