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Glycerides, more correctly known as acylglycerols, are esters formed from glycerol and fatty acids.
Glycerol has three hydroxyl functional groups, which can be esterified with one, two, or three fatty acids to form monoglycerides, diglycerides, and triglycerides.
Vegetable oils and animal fats contain mostly triglycerides, but are broken down by natural enzymes (lipases) into mono- and diglycerides and free fatty acids.
Soaps are formed from the reaction of glycerides with sodium hydroxide. Glycerol is a product that can soften dehydrated skin by absorbing moisture from the air. If pure glycerol were left exposed to normal air, in 10 to 12 hours it would become 80% glycerol and 20% water by absorbing 1/5 of its weight in water.
Partial glycerides are esters of glycerol with fatty acids, whereby only a part of the existing hydroxyl groups are esterified. Some hydroxyl groups within the glycerol ester are free contributing to the polaric properties of the material. Short chain partial glycerides are more polaric and have excellent solvent properties for many hard-to-solubilize drugs.[1]
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- This page was last modified on 4 September 2008, at 19:22.
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