A Class on Soap Science

MunbynSMF
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That was informative!

I used to work in a food testing lab and we used to do a fatty acid profile (think trans vs saturated vs unsaturated fats) test. It was done with a fat extraction using petroleum ether, then a reflux period using sodium hydroxide in methanol and then hexane would be added after a reaction quench so that the free fats would enter the non-polar hexane layer. The resulting hexane/fatty acid mixture would be analyzed by gas chromatography. There were about 40 different fatty acids that were analyzed, from C6 to C26 (there are a few different isomers [different chemical organizations]) which is why there are more than just 20. The C denotes how many carbons are in the chain.

It used to take forever to analyze the data for one sample. Whenever we would get finished food (like from restaurants to test) you could tell that they were all cooked in the same fat (like butter or soybean oil) because even though the foods would be radically different (greenbeans vs. pork) the fatty acid profiles would look almost identical!

Anyway, there's my spiel.
 
Oh yes, for sure. That would be a greaaaaat $20,000+ investment for information thats already online! :)

I was actually going to start GC/MS'ing some of my fragrance oils just to see the major components. You know bc they're proprietary and all.
 
That exercise seems like it might be similar to putting together the components of a human and expecting it to walk around. I WOULD be most interested if you shared your findings along the way though.
 
The one thing I was interested in was actually taking some less expensive essential oils and comparing them to more expensive ones. I want to see if there is a significant difference. I have too many fragrances to do it to all of them, but maybe I'll do my favorites.

And I would definitely share my findings. Its too interesting not to!

Eta: and it actually shouldn't be too bad. We have a pretty robust chemical library so its a matter of matching the profiles best. However, if the compound isn't in the library I'll be SOL.
 
It would be well within the ability of those with chem lab experience (Galaxy and I come easily to mind, but I'm sure there are others 'cept I haven't had my first cuppa java yet) to do analyses that are based on titrations. Lye purity, free alkali, sap value, and the like. Maybe only cost several hunnert bucks or so and take up a wee corner of the kitchen.

Just sayin'. :wave:
 
I've been thinking about it ... I have a lot of the equipment. I think all I need is a burette and a reflux condenser ... the latter being semi-pricey.
 
I've seen a few makeshift condensers online. I also have almost all of the supplies I need but the burette and condenser. I would need a more accurate scale though.

My current job doesn't use condensers for anything so I couldn't do it there. I think there are other ways of calculating sap value though that don't involve reflux. Hmm...
 
I went looking online for ideas for a reflux condenser and found a bunch of stills ...

Great, now I'm on THAT list.
 

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