Organogelation of plant oils and hydrocarbons by long-chain saturated FA, fatty alcohols, wax esters, and dicarboxylic acids

Conversion of oils into gels generally involves altering the chemical characteristics of the liquid. We describe here the gelling of vegetable oils, essential oils, and hydrocarbons at ambient temperature, without changing the chemical characteristics of the liquids, using saturated FA having carbon chain lengths of 10 to 31. The gelling ability of the added FA increased linearly with their chain lengths. Structure-function studies demonstrated that the carboxyl group, position of an additional hydroxyl group, and acyl chain length played an important role in gelation. Long-chain saturated fatty alcohols, wax esters, and dicarboxylic acids also had the ability to gel plant oils and hydrocarbons.