Abstract
The surface activity of the α-substituted higher aliphatic acids was studied. These compounds were prepared by reaction of α-bromo-fatty acid with various compounds, such as sodium hydroxide, N-methyltaurine, monoethanolamine, diethanolamine, glycine, n-butylamine, ethylenediamine, potassium cyanide (The obtained α-cyano-fatty acid was hydrolyzed into dicarboxylic acid.), ammonia, trimethylamine and thiourea (The obtained pseudothiohydantoin was decomposed into α-mercapto-fatty acid.).
These reaction products were surface active and some of them were stable for metallic ion.
It was proved by IR spectrum that α-trimethyl ammonium bromide-stearic acid was decarboxylated by heating into heptadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide. It was found that the decarboxylation reaction was first order and the activation energy was about 32.9 kcal/mol.
