[[File:Dodecanal.svg|thumb|Chemical structure of the fatty aldehyde dodecanal]]
'''Fatty aldehydes''' are aliphatic, long-chain aldehydes which may be mono- or polyunsaturated. The fatty aldehydes include compounds such as octanal, nonanal, decanal or dodecanal. The nomenclature is derived from the nomenclature of the alkanes, the ending ''-al'' is added to indicate the aldehyde group.
== Occurrence == Fatty aldehydes are a natural component of many natural ingredients such as the essential oils of various citrus fruits. Decanal, for example, is a component of orange peel.<ref>Kehai Liu, Qiulin Chen, Yanjun Liu, Xiaoyan Zhou, Xichang Wang: "Isolation and Biological Activities of Decanal, Linalool, Valencene, and Octanal from Sweet Orange Oil". In: ''Journal of Food Science'' 77, 2012, S. C1156–C1161, doi:10.1111/j.1750-3841.2012.02924.x.</ref> The pheromone cocktails of various insect pheromones contain fatty aldehydes.<ref>Gerhard Kasang, Karl Ernst Kaißling, Otto Vostrowsky, Hans Jürgen Bestmann: "Bombykal, eine zweite Pheromonkomponente des Seidenspinners ''Bombyx mori L.''" In: ''Angewandte Chemie.'' 90, 1978, S. 74–75, doi:10.1002/ange.19780900132.</ref> Fat aldehydes were also detected in the heart muscle of mammals.<ref>John R. Gilbertson et al.: "Natural occurrence of free fatty aldehydes in bovine cardiac muscle". In: ''Journal of Lipid Research'' 13.4 (1972): S. 491–499.</ref>
== Preparation == Fatty aldehydes can be prepared by dehydrogenation of fatty alcohols on copper-zinc catalysts.<ref>{{Cite patent|country=DE|number=10044809|title= Verfahren zur Herstellung von Aldehyden|pubdate=2002-01-10|invent1= Albrecht Schwerin, Lothar Friesenhagen, Gerrit Pelzer, Bernhard Gutsche}}</ref> By the hydroformylation of alkenes, fatty aldehydes are produced on a large industrial scale.<ref>Ernst Wiebus, Boy Cornils: "Die großtechnische Oxosynthese mit immobilisiertem Katalysator" In: ''Chemie Ingenieur Technik'' 66, 1994, S. 916–923, doi:10.1002/cite.330660704.</ref>
== Use == A large proportion of the fatty aldehydes prepared by hydroformylation is directly processed further to fatty alcohols. Many fatty aldehydes find use as a fragrance in perfume production. An example is 2-methylundecanal which is the typical odor component of Chanel No. 5.<ref>{{cite web|title=Chemistry in its element - 2-Methylundecanal|url=http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/podcast/CIIEcompounds/transcripts/2-methylundecanal.asp|url-status=dead|accessdate=2014-06-20|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140528084048/http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/podcast/CIIEcompounds/transcripts/2-methylundecanal.asp|archivedate=2014-05-28|language=German}}</ref> Decanal, whose sweet, flowery odor reminiscents of orange peels, is used, among other things, as a flavoring agent in the food industry and as a perfume in the perfume industry.
==See also== * Fatty acid * Fatty alcohol
== References == <references />
Category:Fatty aldehydes Category:Sweet-smelling chemicals