Fatty alcohol

They are colourless oily liquids (for smaller carbon numbers) or waxy solids, although impure samples may appear yellow.

In the 1930s catalytic hydrogenation was commercialized, which allowed the conversion of fatty acid esters, typically tallow, to the alcohols.

[3] The traditional sources of fatty alcohols have largely been various vegetable oils, which remain a large-scale feedstock.

The process involves the transesterification of the triglycerides to give methyl esters which are then hydrogenated to produce the fatty alcohols.

For example, from 1-decene, hydroformylation gives the C11 alcohol: In the Shell higher olefin process, the chain-length distribution in the initial mixture of alkene oligomers is adjusted so as to more closely match market demand.

[6] The metabolism of fatty alcohols is impaired in several inherited human peroxisomal disorders, including adrenoleukodystrophy and Sjögren–Larsson syndrome.

[7] Fatty alcohols are relatively benign materials, with LD50 (oral, rat) ranging from 3.1–4 g/kg for hexanol to 6–8 g/kg for octadecanol.

Fatty alcohols are not very volatile and the acute lethal concentration is greater than the saturated vapor pressure.

Tests of repeated bolus dosages of 1-hexanol and 1-octanol showed potential for CNS depression and induced respiratory distress.

Fatty alcohols are effectively eliminated from the body when exposed, limiting possibility of retention or bioaccumulation.

Field studies at wastewater treatment plants have shown that 99% of fatty alcohols lengths C12–C18 are removed.

[9] Fate prediction using fugacity modeling has shown that fatty alcohols with chain lengths of C10 and greater in water partition into sediment.