tube 364 65 g of c 24 28 epoxide 0 843 mol are melted under atmospheric pressure at a temperature from 70 u00b0 to 80 u00b0 c to the melted epoxide is added a mixture of 235 35 g of stearic acid 0 843 mol and 0 78 g of triethylamine 0 13 by weight the resulting melt is heated to 180 u00b0 c within 30 minutes and stirred for 5 hours at this temperature while continuously passing nitrogen gas through the reaction mixture about 3 g of water are split off to the reaction mixture is added 105 88 g of hydroxystearic acid the resulting mixture is stirred for 1 5 hours at 180 u00b0 c the reaction mixture is cooled to 80 u00b0 c and decanted the product has the following characteristics appearance beige colored wax color gardner 6 7 acid number 26 saponification number 103 fusion point 55 u00b0 57 u00b0 c employing the monocarboxylic 2 hydroxyalkylester prepared in example 1 the following water in oil creams and stick formulations are prepared the fatty phase is melted at 75 u00b0 c until homogeneous at the same time the aqueous phase is also heated to 75 u00b0 c and is then slowly added to the fatty phase with initial rapid stirring a soft cream is obtained which does not lose its consistency even at 45 u00b0 c the fatty phase is heated to 75 u00b0 c the aqueous phase is prepared simultaneously and also is heated to 75 u00b0 c the fatty phase is emulsified with the aqueous phase with rapid stirring and subsequently cooled.