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Organic Geochemistry pp 357–373Cite as

Fatty Acids and Alcohols

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Abstract

The fatty acids continue to be one of the most rewarding types of organic compounds studied by geochemists. Almost without exception every research group concerned with fatty acid geochemistry has produced qualitatively new data and relationships. Several factors make fatty acids favorable organic molecules for geochemical study; they are major components of most organisms, many of them have the intrinsic chemical stability to persist for geologically long periods of time, and sufficient chemically-different types of carboxylic acid occur naturally to carry useful information about their origin and transformations.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Science Institute at Port Aransas, University of Texas, Port Aransas, Texas, USA

    P. L. Parker

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  1. P. L. Parker
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bristol, Bristol, England

    Geoffrey Eglinton

  2. St. Joseph College, Hartford, Connecticut, USA

    Mary T. J. Murphy (Sister) (Sister)

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© 1969 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Parker, P.L. (1969). Fatty Acids and Alcohols. In: Eglinton, G., Murphy, M.T.J. (eds) Organic Geochemistry. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-87734-6_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-87734-6_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-87736-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-87734-6

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