are soaps esters of fatty acids?
Soaps. Soaps are made from naturally occurring animal fats and vegetable oils. The animal fats and vegetable oils are esters of the alcohol, propane-1,2,3-triol (glycerol) CH2OHCHOHCH2OH and long chain carboxylic acids (often known as fatty acids) RCO2H, where the alkyl groups contain between 7 and 21 carbon atoms.