Product Description

Stearic acid (first syllable pronounced either steer or stair) is the saturated fatty acid with an *8 carbon chain and has the IUPAC name octadecanoic acid. It is a waxy solid, and its chemical formula is C*8H*6O2, or CH3(CH2)*6COOH. Its name comes from the Greek word στέαρ ("stéar"; genitive: "stéatos"), which means tallow. The salts and esters of stearic acid are called stearates It occurs in many animal and vegetable fats and oils, but it is more common in animal fat than vegetable fat. The important exceptions are cocoa butter and shea butter whose fatty acids consist of *8–*5% stearic acid.[2]
Stearic acid is prepared by treating animal fat with water at a high pressure and temperature, leading to the hydrolysis of triglycerides. It can also be obtained from the hydrogenation of some unsaturated vegetable oils.