The isolation and characterization of the polymers formed during the autoxidation of ethyl linolenate

Summary Pure ethyl linolenate was prepared and autoxidized; and dimeric and trimeric fractions were separated by solvent fractionation. These fractions were subjected to quantitative, functional group-analysis. On a basis of oxygen known to be present but not detected in the functional groups the possibility that polymerization had taken place through an oxygen linkage was considered. The mild nature of the reagent causing depolymerization suggested that this linkage was of the peroxide type rather than the dioxane ring. A report of work done under contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and authorized by the Research and Marketing Act of 1946. The contract was supervised by the Northern Regional Research Laboratory of the Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry, Peoria, Ill. Presented at the American Oil Chemists' Society Meeting, October 12–14, 1954, Minneapolis, Minn.