Straight-chain saturated acids and their methyl esters

▪ Table

Straight-chain saturated acids and their methyl esters

acid methyl ester

chain

length IUPAC

name common

name melting point

(°C) boiling point

(°C) melting point

(°C) boiling point*

(°C)

  1 methanoic formic 8 101 — 32  

  2 ethanoic acetic 17 118 — 56  

  3 propanoic propionic −21 141 — 80  

  4 butanoic butyric −8 162 — 102  

  5 pentanoic valeric −35 184 — 127  

  6 hexanoic caproic −2 205 — 150  

  7 heptanoic enanthic −9 223 — 172  

  8 octanoic caprylic 16 240 — 193  

  9 nonanoic pelargonic 15 255 — 214  

10 decanoic capric 31 268 — 224  

11 undecanoic — 29 284 — 123⁹

12 dodecanoic lauric 44 299 5 262  

13 tridecanoic — 45 312 6 90¹

14 tetradecanoic myristic 54 — 19 129²

15 pentadecanoic — 53 — 18 141³

16 hexadecanoic palmitic 63 — 31 148²

17 heptadecanoic margaric 63 — 30 —  

18 octadecanoic stearic 70 — 39 —  

19 nonadecanoic — 69 — 39 —  

20 eicosanoic arachidic 77 — 46 —  

21 heneicosanoic — 82 — 49 —  

22 docosanoic behenic 81 — 54 —  

23 tricosanoic — 79 — 53 —  

24 tetracosanoic lignoceric 88 — 60 —  

25 pentacosanoic — 84 — 61 —  

26 hexacosanoic cerotic 88 — 64 —  

27 heptacosanoic — 82 — 64 —  

28 octacosanoic montanic 90 — 67 —  

29 nonacosanoic — 90 — 69 —  

30 triacontanoic melissic 94 — 72 —  

*Boiling point at 760 millimetres unless at 1, 2, 3, or 9 millimetres as indicated by superscript.

See as table:

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