The production of soap via the ester hydrolysis of the saponification reaction is a simple process that has had a significant impact for thousands of years. When heated in a basic solution, trigylcerides, like the ones found naturally in nutmeg and other plants, can easily be hydrolyzed into three fatty acid chains via simple nucleophilic acyl substitution. The amphiphilic nature of resulting soap allows it emulsify nonpolar lipids into water so they can easily be removed from surfaces via a simple water rinse. These soaps have practical applications in both the cleansing of various surfaces and the protection of materials. The amphiphilic qualities of fatty acid salts are important for interactions with many molecules and are relevant to many areas of study. In this experiment, one such soap product, sodium trimyristate, was effectively produced via a extraction and reaction process from the common spice nutmeg. The formation of the product was confirmed by melting point, IR and the interactions with both olive oil and product’s 1% ferrous chloride. References De Mattos, M.C.S.; and Nicodem, D.E. 2002, 94-95. J. Chem. Educ., 79, Phansteil IV, O.; Dueno, E; and Wang, Q.X. 1998, J. Chem. Educ., 75, 612-614. Socha, A.M.; and Sello, J.K. 2010, 4753–4756. Org. Biomol. Chem., 8, Frignani, A.; Grassi, V.; Zucchi, F; and Zanotto, F. 2011, Materials and Corrosion, 62, 995- 1002. Kuo, Y., Lin, S., and Wu, R. 1989, 2310-2312. Chem. Pharm. Bull. 37,
The production of soap via the ester hydrolysis of the saponification reaction is a simple process that has had a significant impact for thousands of years. When heated in a basic solution, trigylcerides, like the ones found naturally in nutmeg and other plants, can easily be hydrolyzed into three fatty acid chains via simple nucleophilic acyl substitution. The amphiphilic nature of resulting soap allows it emulsify nonpolar lipids into water so they can easily be removed from surfaces via a simple water rinse. These soaps have practical applications in both the cleansing of various surfaces and the protection of materials. The amphiphilic qualities of fatty acid salts are important for interactions with many molecules and are relevant to many areas of study. In this experiment, one such soap product, sodium trimyristate, was effectively produced via a extraction and reaction process from the common spice nutmeg. The formation of the product was confirmed by melting point, IR and the product’s interactions with both olive oil and 1% ferrous chloride. References De Mattos, M.C.S.; and Nicodem, D.E. J. Chem. Educ., 2002, 79, 94-95. Phansteil IV, O.; Dueno, E; and Wang, Q.X. J. Chem. Educ., 1998, 75, 612-614. Socha, A.M.; and Sello, J.K. Org. Biomol. Chem., 2010, 8, 4753–4756. Frignani, A.; Grassi, V.; Zucchi, F; and Zanotto, F. Materials and Corrosion, 2011, 62, 995- 1002. Kuo, Y., Lin, S., and Wu, R. Chem. Pharm. Bull. 1989, 37, 2310-2312.
FFR-1-Saponification-real.docx