chemistry

Obtusilic acid

Obtusilic acid is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Obtusilic acid rather than just read about it. In short: Obtusilic acid is a linear fatty acid composed of 10 carbon atoms, with one double bond in the position 4=5 in cis-configuration. This is an omega-6 acid of little nutritional interest with abbreviated notation 10:1 (n-6).

Key takeaways

Obtusilic acid belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Obtusilic acid to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Obtusilic acid from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Obtusilic acid is a linear fatty acid composed of 10 carbon atoms, with one double bond in the position 4=5 in cis-configuration. This is an omega-6 acid of little nutritional interest with abbreviated notation 10:1 (n-6).

Discovery The acid was initially isolated in the seed oil of Lindera obtusiloba, from which it takes its common name, in 1937 by the Japanese scientist Toyama and confirmed in the same year by Saburo Komori and Sei-ichi Ueno.

Natural occurrence Lindera obtusiloba oil, Tohaku in Korean, which contains about 4% obtusilic acid, was an oil that Koreans applied to their hair. Obtusilic acid has been isolated from only a few other plants of the family Lauraceae: Lindera praecox (≈5%), Litsea auriculata (≈4%), Lindera citriodora (≈3%).

Physical properties At room temperature, the acid forms a liquid that boils at 148–150 °C at 13 mmHg. Between 4 °C and 20 °C, it has a density of 0.9197 g/cm³ and a refractive index of 1.4497 at 20 °C. The acid is soluble in benzene and diethyl ether.

Health effects An increase in obtusilic acid in human blood and organs has been associated with acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Obtusilic acid

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Obtusilic acid claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Obtusilic acid before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Obtusilic acid ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Obtusilic acid

In research: Obtusilic acid appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Obtusilic acid in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Obtusilic acid is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Alkenoic acids, Fatty acids, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Obtusilic acid outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Obtusilic acid in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Obtusilic acid means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Obtusilic acid out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Obtusilic acid in simple terms?

Why does Obtusilic acid matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Obtusilic acid?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Obtusilic acid.