PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF FATTY ACIDS 



51 



NUMBER OF CARBON ATOMS 



150 200 



TEMPERATURE.°G 



300 



P'ig. 1. Boiling points of the fatty acids under conditions of vacuum-steam 



distillation. 213 



150 200 250 



TEMPERATURE, "C 



Fig. 2. Vapor pressure curves of the n-allcyl acids containing 6-18 carbon atoms.^n 



atom. However, starting with myristic acid, and continuing for the higher 

 pairs, the melting points of the even- and odd-chain fatty acids are almost 

 identical. The methyl and ethyl esters follow the same pattern but tend 

 to have values considerably below those of the corresponding free fatty 



