ABSTRACT
Like other natural polyunsaturated fatty acids, the three double bonds in γ-linolenic acid are arranged in a methylene-interrupted fashion and are of cis configuration. According to the delta (∆) nomenclature system, this fatty acid can be expressed as allcis-6,9,12-octadecatrienoic acid or c6,c9,cl2-octadecatrienoic acid where c indicates the cis-configuration, and the numbers (6, 9, and 12) indicate the positions of double bonds related to the carboxyl carbon of the acyl chain (-COOH). This systematic name can also be simplified to 18:3 (∆6,9,12), 18:3 (∆6,9,12), 18:3 (6,9,12), or 6,9,12-18:3, where 18 indicates the number of total carbon atoms, and 3 represents the number of double bonds in the molecule. However, γ-linolenic acid is conveniently abbreviated to GLA, or represented by its shorthand name, 18:3n-6 (or 18:3ω-6), where n-6 (or ω-6) indicates the position of the first double bond beginning from the methyl end (CH3-).
