Potassium soap

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Potassium salts of individual fatty acids (examples)
Oelic Acid Potassium Salt Structural Formula V.2.svg
Potassium oleate, the potassium salt of oleic acid.
Palmitic Acid Potassium Salt Structural Formula V.2.svg
Potassium palmitate, the potassium salt of palmitic acid.
Stearic Acid Potassium Salt Structural Formula V.2.svg
Potassium stearate, the potassium salt of stearic acid.

Potassium soap is a collective name for potassium salts of individual fatty acids or - more often - mixtures of potassium salts of several fatty acids.

Manufacturing

The saponification of natural fats and oils with potassium hydroxide provides mixtures of potassium salts of fatty acids and glycerine . The proportions of the individual fatty acid anions in the mixture of potassium salts depends on the nature and provenance of the triglyceride used as the raw material . A chemically largely uniform potassium soap can be obtained by reacting a largely pure fatty acid with a stoichiometric amount of potassium hydroxide. Examples of such potash soaps are:

  • Potassium oleate, the potassium salt of oleic acid , a yellowish semi-solid substance that can be counted among the glue soaps because of the C = C double bond it contains.
  • Potassium palmitate, the potassium salt of palmitic acid (hexadecanoic acid), a white, fatty mass.
  • Potassium stearate, the potassium salt of stearic acid (octadecanoic acid), a white powder or compact pieces.

use

Potassium soaps are used as textile auxiliaries , soft soap components ( hand washing paste or liquid soap ), as well as thickeners in mineral oil- based lubricating greases and as a component of shaving creams .

More soaps

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Brockhaus ABC Chemie , VEB FA Brockhaus Verlag Leipzig 1965, p. 619.
  2. Brockhaus ABC Chemie2 , VEB FA Brockhaus Verlag Leipzig 1965, p 620th
  3. Brockhaus ABC Chemie2 , VEB FA Brockhaus Verlag Leipzig 1965, p 621st
  4. ^ Günter Vollmer and Manfred Franz: Chemical products in everyday life , Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart, 1985, p. 90, ISBN 3-13-670201-8 .