II. ABOUT NATURAL ESTERS
A. Chemistry of Natural Esters, Triglycerides
and Fatty Acids
Esters are ubiquitous chemical compounds, and natural
esters refer to those present in plants and animals. Esters result
from the condensation of carboxylic acids (R-COOH) and
alcohols (R’-OH), as illustrated by the Fig. 1 below. Most
naturally occurring esters are fats and oils which are lipids
known as triglycerides.
R-COOH + HO-R’