Characterization of alkali soaps by electron microscopy

Abstract

The mor phological di fferences between sel'era l close l~' related alk ali soaps ha I-e bcen determ ined by t he techniq ues of electron microscopy. T he crysta llin e a lkai i soaps consist of an in terlocked m esh of b un dled fi be),s, Il'h ereas t he liq uid-cr ystall ine soaps exhibit a flage llar and/or featureless pha~e. The m.ice ll ar groupings fo r the indi yid ual soaps arc uniq ue, and a sche me based upon the elecl ron m icrographs is suggested fo), thei r characte rization. T he struct ures of li th ium, sodium, a nd potassium palmi tateR arc close ly related. T he Iau rate, palmitate, and stearate of sodium a lso exh ibit homologous st ru ct ures .T he resu lts of these mo rphological inyestigations offe r a rapid and acc urate means of identification and hal'e been succesR[ull.I' a pplied to t he p roblem of characle ri7,ing comme rcial soaps of Unk ll oll' n composition.

Characterization of some commercial soaps by x-ray diffraction

“…It is hoped ultimately to correlate these X-r ay data ,,-ith the physical-chemi cal properties of aqu eous soap solu tions and their washing (cleansing) action. R esul ts pertaining t o these latter properties and also some information r elating to phase nature, as revealed by electron microscopy, are pres en ted in RP1973 and RP1974 [23 ].…”