[Solidus]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone knew anything about fatty acids absorbing UV light proportional to their concentration in a solution?

Any guidance on why it is so or reference would be much appreciated..

Thank you

[ARGOS++]

Dear Solidus,

Radio Yerevan: In Principal – YES!  ––  But take very much care for the Pitfalls!

As Fatty acids are “homologs” of Acetic-Acid you can observe their Carbonyl-bond at around 205 nm with a weak Epsilon close to 40!
In case of unsaturated Fatty acids you may observe a stronger Signal at higher wavelength in case of Conjugation, too.

The biggest Pitfall you have to take care of is, that Fatty acids are surface reagents, and that means, that in case of a normal Cuvette you will not have a homogenise concentration!!!
So you need a silanized  Cuvette, or you can silanize it by yourself.

Quintessence:  If you take care, also Fatty acids follows the “General Beer-Lambert Law” exactly, - if you take care of!!

You must know what you are doing, truthful the German Proverb:

“Wer misst misst Mist,
was weiter nicht schlimm ist,
 solange er sich bewußt ist,
was für ein Mist er misst!”

(The translation you may find on the page:

Chemometrics: - Introduction to Chemometrics)

Good Luck!
                    ARGOS⁺⁺