Oils, butters and waxes

The oils and butters extracted from vegetable organisms are mostly glycerine mixtures, where 98-99% consists of molecules deriving from the esterification of glycerol with fatty acids, to form mono-di-triglycerides (this percentage can fluctuate, exist, for example for example, oils and butters with a glycerine percentage equal to 80) The remaining portion consists of the so-called unsaponifiable fraction.

Butters and oils are mainly glyceride mixtures; what is not glyceride is called unsaponifiable fraction and is equal to 2-3% in most cases. Butter and oil differ from each other for the nature of the fatty acids present in the glycerine fraction: a more marked presence of saturated fatty acids gives the compound high melting points, therefore a semi-solid consistency at room temperature (butters); vice versa, the unsaturated fatty acids lower the melting point and give a liquid consistency at room temperature (oils). The healthy and functional application of oils and butters, however, is dictated by the chemical nature of the unsaponifiable fraction; for example, walnut oil is widely used in tanning products, because its unsaponifiable portion is rich in brown pigments (phenolic compounds), while the unsaponifiable portion of coconut oil is rich in antioxidants, such as vitamin E. We can summarize by saying that in the small unsaponifiable portion of an oil or butter there are numerous secondary metabolites (flavonoids, carotenoids, steroids ...), which determine the chemical properties of that oil or that butter (it is called the unsaponifiable fraction because if we subject it to a saponification reaction it does not react with the reaction reagents).

Waxes, on the other hand, are mixtures of esterified fatty acids with mono or polyvalent alcohols other than glycerol; they too have an unsaponifiable portion. The fatty acids that characterize them have a much longer carbon chain than that of oils and butters; in some cases these fatty acids can have an odd number of carbon atoms, because they have undergone processes of decarboxylation; therefore the biogenetic pathway, whether they are fatty acids with an even or odd number of carbon atoms, is the same. There are solid, semi-solid and liquid waxes, depending on the saturation or unsaturation level of the fatty acids that compose them ( as it happens for oils and butters); an example is jojoba oil, so called improperly because it is actually a liquid wax. Even the waxes have an unsaponifiable portion, which determines their healthy expressions; in the case of jojoba liquid wax, the unsaponifiable fraction, equal to 2-3%, is rich in vitamin E and other chemical compounds which give it antioxidant and sebum-regulating properties.

Other articles on "Oils, butters and waxes"

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