Editing Fatty acid (section)

===Chemistry of saturated vs unsaturated acids===
The reactivity of saturated fatty acids is usually associated with the carboxylic acid or the adjacent methylene group  By conversion to their acid chlorides, they can be converted to the symmetrical fatty ketone laurone ({{chem2|O\dC(C_{n}H_{(2n+1)})2}}).<ref>{{cite journal |author=J. C. Sauer|doi=10.15227/orgsyn.031.0068 |title=Laurone |journal=Organic Syntheses |date=1951 |volume=31 |page=68 }}</ref>  Treatment with [[sulfur trioxide]] gives the α-sulfonic acids.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.15227/orgsyn.036.0083 |title=α-Sulfopalmitic Acid |journal=Organic Syntheses |date=1956 |volume=36 |page=83 |first1=J. K. |last1=Weil |first2=R. G. |last2=Bistline, Jr. |first3=A. J. |last3=Stirton}}</ref>

The reactivity of unsaturated fatty acids is often dominated by the site of unsaturation.  These reactions are the basis of ozonolysis, hydrogenation, and the iodine number. Ozonolysis (degradation by ozone) is practiced in the production of [[azelaic acid]] ((CH{{sub|2}}){{sub|7}}(CO{{sub|2}}H){{sub|2}}) from [[oleic acid]].<ref name="Ullmann Fatty Acids"/>