Kinetics of iodine-catalyzed conjugation of soybean oils was studied. The results indicated that the conjugation of linoleic acid could be described by means of apparent first-order reaction. The apparent activation energy values and the preexponential factor A were 769kJ/mol and 3.49×108s−1, respectively. The rate equation was . r A = − d C L A d t = − 3.49 × 10 8 exp ⁡ [ 9249.88 T ] C L A C I 2 0.9425 It was also clear that the model was perfect for fitting the results.

A method for the iodine-catalyzed formation of conjugated double bonds in soybean oil was developed, and the conjugated product was analyzed by UV, IR and 1 H-NMR. The results indicated that the optimal conditions for the isomerisation included a temperature of 180 °C, a catalyst loading of 0.5 mass % and a reaction time of 3 h. Under these conditions, the concentration of conjugated linoleum acid was 1.51 mol L-1 and the CLNA concentration reached 0.225 mol L-1 with a conversion rate of 99.9 %. The reaction predominantly produced trans-trans, trans-cis and cis-trans isomers. It was also revealed that the isomerisation of linolenic acid was much faster than that of linoleic acid. The method possessed the advantages of a short procedure, a high conversion rate, and no conversion into methyl esters of the raw material and it is an environmentally friendly technology that does not require the use solvents.