Lauric acid

Lauric acid, or dodecanoic acid, is the main acid in coconut oil and in palm kernel oil, and is believed to have antimicrobial properties.

It is a white, powdery solid with a faint odor of bay oil or soap.

 

Lauric acid is inexpensive, has a long shelf-life, and is non-toxic and safe to handle. Thus, it is often used in laboratory investigations of melting point depression. Lauric acid is a solid at room temperature but melts easily in boiling water, so liquid lauric acid can be treated

with various solutes and used to determine their molecular masses.

 

 

Molar mass: 200.31776

Density: 0.880 g/cm³

Melting point: 44 °C

 

Boiling point: 298.9 °C

 

Solubility in water insoluble in water

Viscosity 7.30 mPa-s at 323 K

 

 

Flash point ≥ 110 °C

Related compounds

Related compounds Glyceryl laurate

 

 

Lauric acid, although slightly irritating to mucous membranes, has a very low toxicity and so is used in many soaps and shampoos.

Sodium lauryl sulfate is the most common lauric-acid derived compound used for this purpose. Because lauric acid has a non-polar hydrocarbon tail and a polar carboxylic acid head, it can interact with polar solvents (the most important being water) as well as fats,

allowing water to dissolve fats. This accounts for the abilities of shampoos to remove grease from hair. Fatty acids are a carboxylic acid

with a long unbranched aliphatic tail (chain), which is either saturated or unsaturated.

 

Fatty acids derived from natural fats and oils may be assumed to have at least 8 carbon atoms. ost of the natural fatty acids have an even number of carbon atoms, because their biosynthesis involves acetyl-CoA, a coenzyme carrying a two-carbon-atom group.