[Unknown Member]

Hi Pharma

I know it’s been a while, but I’ve done some further digging on this subject. In your answer you stated FFAs are anionic in aqueous solutions. Is that under the assumption that the pH of the aqueous solution is around the neutral pH / pH 7?

I came across this research article titled: “Characterization of the Charged Components and Their Topology on
the Surface of Plant Seed Oil Bodies”.

Here’s the link: https://www.jbc.org/article/S0021-9258(19)49582-3/pdf

The article mentioned the following:

“Further decrease of the pH to 5.0 likely protonates the free fatty acids and produces positively charged organelles.” (mentioned in the intro/abstract)

And:

“Further lowering of the pH from 6 to 4 protonates the free fatty acid, which is the only lipid or amino acid residue having a pK of about 5; the now positively charged oil bodies repulse one another, thereby reducing aggregation.” (mentioned on page 8, first paragraph on the right, line 4)

So according to this article free fatty acids get protonated around pH 4-5. Is it then correct to conclude that FFA’s are cationic from pH4-5 and lower? Or am I misinterpreting that piece of information?

Thank you for your help btw!

jbc.org

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[Unknown Member]

Thanks 🙂

[Unknown Member]

Thanks for your input! I would like to formulate a product for hair, not skin. The reason I want to mostly incorporate free fatty acids as opposed to triglycerides is because I’m focusing on the CMC in the cuticle layers of the hair shaft which is composed of free fatty acids (and covalently bound fatty acids).

Triglycerides won’t form membrane layers and reside mainly in the cortex & medulla. I’m also prioritizing the aforementioned saturated fatty acids because they are the most abundant ones in hair (Oleic acid is abundant as well, but since that’s unsaturated I’d rather not use that in free form due to oxidation).

Cocoa butter contains a good amount of the fatty acids I’m interested in (Palmitic, Stearic, Oleic) but in triglyceride form. I’d have to hydrolyze Cocoa butter to turn the triglycerides into FFAs, but then that would also affect the unstable Oleic acid. Same for Kokum butter.

[Unknown Member]

Thanks for your help 🙂 What is your background in chemistry if you don’t mind me asking?

[Unknown Member]

Thank you so much for your quick reply! So could I use saturated FFA without any antioxidants at all? I’m planning to use a very high amount of FFA in a formula.