The Action of Iodine on Oleic Acid

Abstract

A survey of the literature on the absorption of halogens by the unsaturated fatty acids shows that beyond the speculative suggestions made by Margosches Hinner and Friedmann practically no systematic work has been done with the object of explaining the mechanism of the reaction. Except in one instance the work has been carried out in Hubl's, Wijs's, Hanus's or aqueous alcohol solutions. However, in these solutions we have a complex mixture, each constituent of which plays a part which is not yet fully understood. To overcome this difficulty, only pure oleic acid, iodine, and a pure solvent were used during the first half of this investigation. Special care was taken to remove all impurities in the solvents, each of which was specially treated with that object in view.