The chemistry of castor oil and its derivatives is reviewed with particular reference to work done in India in general and at the Regional Research Laboratory in Hyderabad in particular. Topics covered are the structure of castor oil, preparation of ricinoleic acid and its glycerides, monoglycerides, surfactants from castor oil, diverse hydrogenations, dehydration, preparation and properties of estolides, alkali fusion or oxidation to dibasic acids, hydroxylation and acetoxy-epoxies, urethanes and polymerisable monomers.

Gas‐liquid chromatographic analysis of methyl esters of two samples of castor oil gave the following (as wt %): palmitate 1.2, 0.9; stearate 0.7, 1.2; arachidate 0.3, 0.2; hexadecenoate 0.2, 0.2; oleate 3.2, 3.3; linoleate 3.4, 3.7; linolenate 0.2, 0.2; ricinolE'ate 89.4, 89.0; and dihydroxystearate 1.4, 1.3. Oxidative cleavage of purified methyl ricinoleate indicated that the double bond was exclusively in the 9舑10 position.Castor oil glycerides were fractionated in a 100‐tube CCD apparatus using 90% ethanol and commercial hexane as solvents. Analysis of pooled fractions showed (as mole %) triricinolein 68.2, diricinoleins 28.0, mono‐ricinoleins 2.9 and nonricinoleins 0.9. These results coupled with lipase hydrolysis of the whole oil and of the fractions agree well with the distribution pattern proposed by Vander Wal.

THE POSITION of the hydrophilic group such as sulfate in a long aliphatic chain governs its surfactant properties. If the sulfate group is terminal, detergency is exhibited; if central, wetting properties are manifested. It seemed of interest to study the surfactant properties of a series of model compounds with sulfate salt groups and an unsaturated center at various positions, such as are exemplified by Turkey red oil, oleyl sulfate, ricinoleyl sulfate, methyl 12-sulfato-oleate, methyl 9or 10-sulfatostearate, stearyl sulfate, and lauryl sulfate. These are pictured in Figure 1. Lauryl sulfate, though of shorter chain length than the others, was included as a compound of known surfactant properties useful as a standard. Apart from the comparative study, the purpose of the present work was also to evaluate ricinoleyl alcohol, the fatty alcohol corresponding to ricinoleic acid or to castor oil, as a surfactant base. Here the presence of two hydrophilic groups in the sulfated salt, separated by 12 carbon atoms, was expected to lead to unpredictable and interesting surfactant properties.

The percentages by weight of palmitic, hexadecenoic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, Iinolenic and