Study of color stability of tall oil fatty acids through isolation and characterization of minor constituents

Minor constituents in high quality tall oil fatty acids have been isolated successfully by liquid column chromatography, using silicic acid as the adsorbent. The minor constituents contained two types of compounds: those which were noneffective and those which were effective in causing the darkening of tall oil fatty acids during heating. The former consisted oftrans-3,5-dimethoxystilbene and rosin acids. The latter was separated into numerous fractions by the combination of chemical methods, silicic acid column chromatography, and low temperature fractional crystallization. The fractions were characterized by functional group analyses, chemical reactions, and UV and IR spectrometric methods. Most of the fractions contained two-three times as much oxygen in the molecule as the original sample and were highly oxidized fatty acids. They had mol wt ranging 300–551 and contained double bonds, carbonyl, ester, peroxide, and hydroxyl groups. The effect of these minor constituents upon the color stability of tall oil fatty acids during heating was postulated as being due to the hydroxyl groups located in the α-position to the double bond in the molecule.