Catalytic raical addition of methyl isobutyl ketone to methyl oleate.

Abstract

Palm oil is one of the major commodities of Malaysia. Since it comprise of high degree ia unsaturated fatty acid such as Oleic acid ( 40%) and Linoleic acid (10%), it is very susceptible to experience oxidations which resulted in the formation of undesirable toxic compounds. This in turns, make the application of palm oil in the food and nonfood industries such as lubricants and hydraulic fluids to be limited. Transesterfication process in transforming triacylglycerol to methyl esters could also reduce the viscosity and it would not be suitable for the lubrication purpose. Hence, addition reactions of Methyl Isobutyl Ketone (MIBK) to methyl oleate (MEOL) were suggested in order to improve the oxidation stability of the unsaturated methyl esters and furthermore increasing the viscosity of the MEOL.