The primary component of castor oil is
ricinoleic acid.
A fatty acids mixture containing up to 90% of
ricinoleic acid was obtained through saponification of castor oil followed by acidification with hydrochloridric acid.
The oil was found to possess much potential to produce dehydrated castor oil due to the presence of
ricinoleic acid (84%) (Fig.
Ricinoleic acid has been shown to have antibacterial properties against gram positive bacteria (Novak et al.
The physical state shows us that the liquid oil possesses a light yellow coloring and is soluble in ethanol and chloroform, due to the OH group present in the
ricinoleic acid.
It consists of ~85-95%
ricinoleic acid (12-hydroxy-9-cis-octadecenoic acid) which has one hydroxyl group per mole.
Antimicrobial activity of some
ricinoleic acid oleic acid derivatives.
1] corresponds to valent fluctuations of hydroxyl group's [upsilon] (OH) of
ricinoleic acid which also allows distinguishing it from other fat acids, and also castor acid itself from other natural substances.
Dienes such as 4,7-heptadiene, (9) 3,6-nonadiene, (10) and 2,5-undecadiene, (11) as well as methyl and ethyl esters of the unsaturated fatty acids linoleic, linolenic, and
ricinoleic acid, (12-15) have been used as model compounds for alkyd resin precursors.
The objective of this study was to determine the inheritance of the high oleic/low
ricinoleic acid content of the castor mutant line OLE-1.
One bacterium, a Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain called PR3, is the driving force behind a bioconversion process to produce DOD from oleic acid in soybean oil and TOD--7,10,12-trihydroxy-8(E)-octadecenoic acid--from
ricinoleic acid in castor oil.
Oils rich in oleic acid are preferred for cooking, while stearic acid is a raw material for soaps and detergents, and
ricinoleic acid is valuable for industrial lubricants.