Abstract
Before the advent of the modern food industry, vegetable oils (triglycerides) from many sources had a long history of use as condiments in cooking, personal care, and other therapeutic applications. Industrial applications of vegetable oils outside of food usage, on the other hand, have been limited on account of the shorter shelf‐life durability of these oils resulting from the natural unsaturation (carbon–carbon double bonds) in the structure of most triglycerides. In seeking to explore expanded utilization of this renewable resource, we have eliminated the above weakness by chemically modifying the double bonds in the material in an attempt to stabilize the oil. We have used FT‐IR and NMR spectroscopy to characterize the derivative whereas the physical and chemical properties of the product in terms of stability and flow characteristics have been investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), pressure DSC, rheometry and thermogravimetric analysis. In this modification of corn oil the data obtained indicate that the resulting poly‐hydroxylated acids are more stable than the native corn oil. Additionally, the obtained properties are unique and such that this product will be amenable to use in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and other industrial uses especially as a lubricity enhancing additive in fuel applications.