Definition: The term 'acetyl' in chemistry refers to a chemical reaction that involves the removal of an acyl group from a molecule, with the aim of making it more stable or reducing its reactivity. In organic chemistry, the term 'acyl' is often used instead of the more common 'alkyl', which could be ambiguous if "acetyl" was intended to refer to a different chemical substance from acyl, such as an amino acid or a fatty acid. Acyl groups are also called n-acyl, m-acyl, or 2-methylcyclohexan-1-yl. They can be either saturated or unsaturated and can have multiple types of functional groups attached to them (alkanes, alcohols, esters, carboxylic acids, hydroxyacids, nitrocarboxylates). The term 'acylation' typically refers to the formation of a new compound with one or more acyl groups bonded to the original molecule. This process is often used in chemical reactions like those involving the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, polymers, and other organic compounds. In the field of biochemistry, acylation can be used to create a stable form of amino acids for proteins, which are important components of living organisms. It also has applications in the construction of artificial lipids (lipopolysaccharides) that have improved stability for use as drugs or food additives.

acylates