| Description |
Palmitic acid is a kind of common saturated fatty acid of a 16-carbon backbone, which is contained in fats and waxes. It naturally exists in palm oil and palm kernel oil, and can also be found in butter, cheese, milk, meat, a butter, soybean oil and sunflower oil. It can be produced by many kinds of plants and organisms. It can be used for the production of soap, cosmetics, and industrial mold release agents. It is also a food processing aid. It can also be used to produce cetyl alocohol which is useful in the production of detergents and cosmetics. Recently, it has been also used for the manufacture of a long-acting antipsychotic medication, paliperidone palmitate. |
| Chemical Properties |
Palmitic acid occurs as white crystalline scales with a slight characteristic odor and taste. It is one of the most common saturated fatty acids found in animals and plants. It is a mixture of solid organic acids obtained from fats consisting chiefly of palmitic acid (C16H35O2) with varying amounts of stearic acid (C16H36O2). As its name tells us, it is found in palm oil but also in butter, cheese, milk and meat. |
| Occurrence |
Reported found in apple, beef fat, preferments of bread, celery, cheddar cheese, blue cheese, roquefort cheese, other cheeses, roasted a bean, cognac, country cured ham, essential oil of lemon, heated milk, essential oil of sweet orange, pork fat, potato, black tea, tomato, banana, grapefruit juice, cranberry, guava, grapes, melon, papaya, pear, raspberry, strawberry, cinnamon, ginger, saffron, milk powder, fatty fish, chicken, lamb, hop oil, beer, rum, whiskies, grape wines, peanut oil, popcorn, soybean, nut meat, avocado, cloudberry, plums, beans, mushroom, starfruit, marjoram, fenugreek, mango, tamarind, fig, kelp, cardamom,rice, prickly pear, dill, licorice, sake, buckwheat, corn oil, malt, wort, roasted chicory root, lemon balm, shrimp, crab, clam, scallop, Chinese quince, pawpaw and sweet grass oil. |
| Uses |
Palmitic Acid is a common fatty acid found in plants and animals. The body converts excess carbohydrates into Palmitic Acid, thus Palmitic Acid is the first fatty acid produced during fatty acid synt hesis as well as a precursor for longer fatty acids. |
| Uses |
palmitic acid is one of the skin’s major fatty acids produced by the sebaceous glands. In cosmetic preparations, it is used as a formula texturizer. This acid is naturally occurring in allspice, anise, calamus oil, cascarilla bark, celery seed, coffee, tea, and many animal fats and plant oils. It is obtained from palm oil, Japan wax, or Chinese vegetable tallow. |
| Uses |
Palmitic Acid is a fatty acid which is a mixture of solid organic acids from fats consisting principally of palmitic acid with varying amounts of stearic acid. it functions as a lubricant, binder, and defoaming agent. |
| Production Methods |
Palmitic acid occurs naturally in all animal fats as the glyceride, palmitin, and in palm oil partly as the glyceride and partly uncombined. Palmitic acid is most conveniently obtained from olive oil after removal of oleic acid, or from Japanese beeswax. Synthetically, palmitic acid may be prepared by heating cetyl alcohol with soda lime to 270°C or by fusing oleic acid with potassium hydrate. |
| Definition |
ChEBI: Palmitic acid is a saturated long-chain fatty acid with a 16-carbon backbone. It is a metabolite found in the aging mouse brain. It is found naturally in palm oil and palm kernel oil, as well as in butter, cheese, milk and meat. |
| Application |
Palmitic acid is mainly used to produce soaps, cosmetics, and release agents. These applications utilize sodium palmitate, which is commonly obtained by saponification of palm oil. To this end, palm oil, rendered from the nut palm nut, is treated with sodium hydroxide (in the form of caustic soda or lye), which causes hydrolysis of the ester groups. This procedure affords glycerol and sodium palmitate.
Because it is inexpensive and adds texture to processed foods (convenience food), palmitic acid and its sodium salt find wide use including foodstuffs. Sodium palmitate is permitted as a natural additive in organic products.
Hydrogenation of palmitic acid yields cetyl alcohol, which is used to produce detergents and cosmetics.
Recently, a long-acting antipsychotic medication, paliperidone palmitate (marketed as INVEGA Sustenna), used in the treatment of schizophrenia, has been synthesized using the oily palmitate ester as a long-acting release carrier medium when injected intramuscularly. The underlying method of drug delivery is similar to that used with decanoic acid to deliver long-acting depot medication, in particular, neuroleptics such as haloperidol decanoate. |
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