\sә-▐pä-nә-▐fī\ v [F saponifier, fr. L sapon-, sapo] (1821) (1) Alkaline hydrolysis of fats whereby a soap is formed; more generally, the hydrolysis of an ester by an alkali with the formation of an alcohol and a salt of the acid portion. (Morrison RT, Boyd RN (1992) Organic chemistry, 6th edn. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ) (2) The decomposition of the medium of a paint or varnish film by alkali and moisture in a substrate, e.g., new concrete or fresh plaster. Saponified paint may become sticky and discolored. In severe cases, the film may be completely liquefied by saponification. Loss of adhesion may occur as a saponified layer develops next to the substrate. (Wicks ZN, Jones FN, Pappas SP (1999) Organic coatings science and technology, 2nd edn. Wiley-Interscience, New York)
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Gooch, J.W. (2011). Saponification. In: Gooch, J.W. (eds) Encyclopedic Dictionary of Polymers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6247-8_10281
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