Effect of FA composition on epoxidation kinetics of TAG

The rate constants of epoxidation were determined by reacting formic acid with a number of oils, pure TAG, and pure FAME. These results showed that FA composition had a significant effect on the value of the rate constant. In TAG, the double bonds of oleic acid and linoleic acid were equally reactive, and the double bonds of linolenic acid were approximately three times more reactive than oleic and linoleic acids. For FAME, the rate constants of epoxidation increased as the level of unsaturation increased. Furthermore, the rate constants of epoxidation for the FAME were higher than their respective TAG. We conclude that steric and electronic effects caused FA with different levels of unsaturation to have different reactivities. These results were used to derive a model that predicts the epoxidation kinetics of oils from their FA composition. The predictions of the model closely match the experimentally determined rate constants.