Fatty Compounds

Fatty Compounds. The carbon, or organic compounds, are usually divided into two classes - the aromatic (q.v.) and the fatty. The latter are characterised, with a few exceptions, by a straight-chain arrangement of their carbon atoms, and are hence called also the straight-chain compounds. They comprise an almost unlimited number of substances of all varieties of type, as alcohols, acids, ketones, aldehydes, etc. One series of acids were primarily known as the fatty acids, owing to the occurrence of some members of series in natural fats and oils (e.g. palmitic, stearic acids, etc.). From these the name of fatty compounds were taken. The compounds are divided into saturated and unsaturated. The former may be regarded as derivatives of the group of hydrocarbons known as the paraffins (q.v.), which have the general formula C_nH_2n+2, while the unsaturated compounds are derived from hydrocarbon containing less hydrogen as the olefines (C_nH_2n), acetylenes (C_nH_2n-2), etc.