Fats & Saponification

&

Oils
Fats & Oils
Fats & Oils
Fats and Oils are esters of long-chain
carboxylic acids with glycerol. Long –chain
carboxylic acids are sometimes called fatty
acids. The only difference between a fat and
an oil is that a fat is solid, and an oil is liquid
at room temperature.
Fats & Oils
The chain lengths
of the fatty acids
(carboxylic acid) are
from 12 – 18 carbon
atoms.
The fatty acids in fatty
acids can be the same
or different.
 fatty acids

3 H2O
glycerol

a fat
SAPONIFICATION
 Saponification
Saponification is the process of making
soaps by the hydrolysis of fats and oils.
Soaps are metals salts of long-chain
carboxylic acids.
Soaps are made by boiling fats with
sodium or potassium hydroxide
Sodium hydroxide hydrolyses the three
ester links in fats
What is
Soap? Soaps are the sodium
salts of long-chain
carboxylic acids
glycerol. They are
prepared from
vegetable oils and
animal fat and an alkali.
 Saponification
+ 3 NaOH +

fa + Sodium soap + glycerol

t hydroxide
The

Action
of Soap
 How Do Soaps Work?
The cleaning action of
soap is due to the
attraction of different
pasts of the soap for
grease and water.
The ionic ‘head’ is
attracted to water and
the hydrocarbon tail is
attracted to grease.
The Cleansing Action of Soap
 Types of Detergents:
Soapy and Soapless Detergents
Soapy Detergents and Soapless Detergents
Soapy and soapless detergents are substances which are added to
water to remove dirt, e.g. from the skin, clothes, household surfaces
and floors.
• Soapy detergents are made by boiling animal fats or vegetable fats
and oils with concentrated potassium or sodium hydroxide solution.
They may be simply called soaps, e.g. sodium octadecanoate,
C17H35COO-Na+ .
• Soapless detergents are formed from petroleum. They are also
known as 'synthetic detergents' and may be simply called detergents,
e.g. sodium dodecylsulfate, C12H25OSO3-Na+ .
 Past Paper Question
Soaps are prepared from the saponification of oils and fats.
• i) Using Compound C to represent the structure of a fat, draw
the structure of the product(s) expected from the
saponification of this fat

(3 marks)

ii) Compare the effects of soapy and soapless detergents on hard water

CSEC JAN P2
CSEC JUN P2 Past Paper Question
Soaps are formed from the alkaline hydrolysis (saponification) of natural fats and oils, which are esters.
Ethyl propanoate, an ester of relatively low molecular weight, is hydrolysed by aqueous sodium hydroxide.
Draw FULLY displayed structures of the hydrolysis products, A and B.

(4 marks)

Name ONE by-product of the saponification of fats and oils, and state ONE disadvantage of synthetic cleaning agents over soaps.
By-product:
Disadvantage:
(2 marks)