The composition of beeswax alkyl esters

The alkyl esters of beeswax, after isolation from the unhydrolyzed wax by preparative layer chromatography (PLC), have been analyzed directly by high temperature GLC using 1.5% OV1 as liquid phase. In two commercial wax samples examined the ester homologues are predominantly even carbon numbered ranging from C₃₆ to C₅₄. The principal alkyl esters are C₄₀, C₄₂, C₄₄, C₄₆ and C₄₈. The GLC analysis of the ester hydrolysis products revealed that the variations in ester chain length are produced by variations in the esterified primary alcohol chain lengths. The esterified fatty acid is chiefly hexadecanoic acid. The esterified fatty acids differ in composition from the free fatty acids which are also present in the wax.