Question 24.3: Consider lauric acid, CH3(CH2)10CO2H. (a) How many molecules...
Consider lauric acid, \mathrm{CH}_3\left(\mathrm{CH}_2\right)_{10} \mathrm{CO}_2 \mathrm{H}. (a) How many molecules of acetyl CoA are formed from complete β -oxidation? (b) How many cycles of β -oxidation are needed for complete catabolism?
Analysis
The number of carbons in the fatty acid determines the number of molecules of acetyl CoA formed and the number of times β -oxidation occurs.
• The number of molecules of acetyl CoA equals one-half the number of carbons in the original fatty acid.
• Because the final turn of the cycle forms two molecules of acetyl CoA, the number of cycles is one fewer than the number of acetyl CoA molecules formed.
Since lauric acid has 12 carbons, it forms six molecules of acetyl CoA from five cycles of β -oxidation.