Abstract
Application of high pressure techniques on the reactions of oils and fats chemistry such as esterification of long-chain fatty acids and alcoholysis of triacylglycerol was introduced, and was compared to the conventional techniques and supercritical methanol techniques. The esterification of long-chain fatty acids in excess alcohol was very greatly accelerated under high pressure, and the activation volumes of some reactions in dichloromethane solvent were estimated to be as much as-80 cm3/mol. In the case of the esterification of mixed fatty acids, high selective esterification based on the difference of chain length is possible by compression. The alcoholysis of triacylglycerols was also accelerated greatly by compression to give the corresponding ester of fatty acids in high yield when CH2Cl2 or CCl4 was used as a solvent.
