Plant sterols and stanols, and their esters

Plant sterols - rotatable in 3 dimensions

Sitosterol

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Sitosterol is a plant sterol, with only a small difference from cholesterol - an extra ethyl group -C2H5.

Sitostanol is a plant stanol, with only one small difference from sitosterol - a single bond rather than a double bond on one of the rings.

As their names suggest, these compounds are alcohols, possessing an - OH group which can react with acids to form esters.

Shown below is an ester of sitostanol - sitostanyl oleate.
Other related molecules on this site
Cholesterol
Oleic acid

Sitostanol



Sitostanyl oleate

Ester of sitostanol


Sitostanyl oleate is an ester formed between sitostanol and the (mono-unsaturated) fatty acid oleic acid .

An ester is a class of compound formed when an alcohol and an acid are covalently joined, with the elimination of water.