Modification of vegetable oils. XII. Plasticity of some aceto derivatives of monostearin

Summary

• 1. Acetostearins were prepared by reacting various proportions of acetic anhydride with a monostearin of 99.2% purity, a commercially available monostearin containing 91.5% monoglycerides, and a technical grade monostearin containing 61% monoglycerides. The last mentioned product was prepared from a completely hydrogenated cottonseed oil. After the removal of unreacted acetic anhydride and acetic acid from the reaction products, the flexibility and melting characteristics were determined.

• 2. All of the acetostearins tested were non-greasy solids at room temperature yet were highly flexible. At a temperature of 22°C. most of them could be stretched more than 800% under the test conditions. Bending tests revealed that some of the products possessed good flexibility even at 4°C.

• 3. The melting characteristics of the products were dependent on the purity of the monostearin used and the degree of acetylation. Some products melted completely below body temperature (37°C.), and others melted at temperatures up to 60°C. The temperature interval over which melting occurred was usually very short (1–3°); however products made from technical grade monostearin melted over a temperature range of 10–20°C.