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Humans began to use cleaning substances that resemble modern soaps almost five millennia ago. Early crude soaps were made from natural fats and oils and available alkaline materials such as wood ashes. During the Industrial Revolution, manufacturers began to make more refined soaps from purified fatty acids and alkalis such as lye (sodium or potassium hydroxide), quicklime (calcium oxide), or slaked lime (calcium hydroxide).
Sodium stearate is the most common fatty acid salt in today鈥檚 soaps. Common sources of the starting material, stearic acid, are vegetable triglycerides obtained from coconut and palm oils and animal triglycerides from tallow. The names stearic and stearate are derived from 蝉迟茅补谤, the Greek word for tallow.
Besides being a major soap component, sodium stearate is used as an additive in other cosmetic products to form solid 鈥渟tick鈥� shapes. According to Acme-Hardesty, a Blue Bell, PA鈥揵ased manufacturer of biobased products, sodium stearate has a wide range of additional uses, including
- emulsifier and dispersant in latex paints;
- ink thickener;
- stabilizer, viscosity enhancer, and dispersant for liquid makeups;
- FDA-approved flavor additive;
- viscosity modifier in gelled fragrances;
- lubricant in polycarbonates and nylons; and
- lubricant and de-dusting agent in rubber production.
Many Web sites provide recipes for making soap at home. But all scratch recipes require lye, which is better off being handled in the lab. If you are willing not to make soap from scratch, you can purchase a 鈥渕elt and pour鈥� soap, in which the desired oil or fat is already treated with lye. Happy soapmaking!
Sodium stearate聽hazard information
| Hazard class* | Hazard statement | |
|---|---|---|
| Serious eye damage/eye irritation, category 2A | H319鈥擟auses serious eye irritation |  |
| Hazardous to the aquatic environment, acute hazard, category 2 | H401鈥擳oxic to aquatic life |  |
| Hazardous to the aquatic environment, long-term hazard, category 2 | H411鈥擳oxic to aquatic life with long-lasting effects | |
| None | May form combustible dust concentrations in air | |
聽*Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals.
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Sodium stearate聽fast facts
| CAS Reg. No. | 822-16-2 |
nomenclature | Octadecanoic acid, sodium salt |
| Empirical formula | C18H35NaO2 |
| Molar mass | 306.47 g/mol |
| Appearance | White solid or powder |
| Melting range | 245鈥�270 潞C |
| Water solubility聽 | Soluble, not quantified |
MOTW update
Hinokitiol was the Molecule of the Week for September 4, 2017. It is a tropolone monoterpenoid that shows promise as a drug that can regulate iron transport in animals. More recently, Inga Wessels and colleagues at RWTH Aachen University (Germany) showed that zinc supplementation may and that zinc ionophores such as hinokitiol may play a role in this process. An ionophore is a compound that binds ions and allows them to be transported through hydrophobic media such as cell membranes.
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