Products of the surface oxidation of methyl linoleate

Abstract

AbstractMethyl linoleate with 5% by weight of methyl palmitate as an internal standard was deposited as a monolayer (20% by weight) on Silica gel H and oxidized at 7,25, and 40°C. Oxidation was followed by iodometric PV practiced directly on aliquots of the silica gel. Lower temperatures gave higher PV maxima but after longer times. Oxidation of methyl linoleate at all three temperatures followed first‐order kinetics, and the energy of activation was 15.0 kcal/mol. The products recovered from the chloroform‐acetic acid layer of the peroxide determination were analyzed by GC and identified by El‐ and CI‐MS. Calculation based on methyl palmitate as an internal standard showed that the total peak area decreased to about 40% that of the original methyl linoleate when the residual methyl linoleate was reduced to less than 2%. The chief nonscission products (NSP) of linoleate oxidation were epoxy, hydroxy, hydroxy‐epoxy, dihydroxy, and trihydroxy methyl esters. The greatest NSP concentrations were obtained about the time of the greatest PV, and the yield at 40°C was greater than those at 7 and 25°C. Scission products (SP) increased rapidly until the greatest PV was reached. After this time, SP declined slightly and plateaued at 40°C, but at 7 and 25°C, SP continued to increase slowly with further oxidation.