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    Types: For Other Uses, See Wax (Disambiguation)

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    glh00
    Waxes are a class of chemical compounds that are malleable near ambient temperatures and melt above 45°C. They are insoluble in water but soluble in organic solvents. There are natural waxes from plants and animals as well as synthetic waxes. Plant waxes help control evaporation and hydration and are mixtures of hydrocarbons and esters. Animal waxes include beeswax and spermaceti from whales. The most important commercial plant wax is carnauba wax from palm trees. Petroleum waxes like paraffin wax are mixtures of hydrocarbon alkanes.

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    Types: For Other Uses, See Wax (Disambiguation)

    Uploaded by

    glh00
    23 views1 page
    Waxes are a class of chemical compounds that are malleable near ambient temperatures and melt above 45°C. They are insoluble in water but soluble in organic solvents. There are natural waxes from plants and animals as well as synthetic waxes. Plant waxes help control evaporation and hydration and are mixtures of hydrocarbons and esters. Animal waxes include beeswax and spermaceti from whales. The most important commercial plant wax is carnauba wax from palm trees. Petroleum waxes like paraffin wax are mixtures of hydrocarbon alkanes.

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    bees wax / wax basics.

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    Wax

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    Waxes are a class of chemical compounds that are malleable near ambient temperatures and melt above 45°C. They are insoluble in water but soluble in organic solvents. There are natural waxes from plants and animals as well as synthetic waxes. Plant waxes help control evaporation and hydration and are mixtures of hydrocarbons and esters. Animal waxes include beeswax and spermaceti from whales. The most important commercial plant wax is carnauba wax from palm trees. Petroleum waxes like paraffin wax are mixtures of hydrocarbon alkanes.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    23 views1 page

    Types: For Other Uses, See Wax (Disambiguation)

    Uploaded by

    glh00
    Waxes are a class of chemical compounds that are malleable near ambient temperatures and melt above 45°C. They are insoluble in water but soluble in organic solvents. There are natural waxes from plants and animals as well as synthetic waxes. Plant waxes help control evaporation and hydration and are mixtures of hydrocarbons and esters. Animal waxes include beeswax and spermaceti from whales. The most important commercial plant wax is carnauba wax from palm trees. Petroleum waxes like paraffin wax are mixtures of hydrocarbon alkanes.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 1

    Wax - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    1 of 4

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax

    Wax
    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    For other uses, see Wax (disambiguation).


    Waxes are a class of chemical compounds that are malleable near ambient temperatures. They are also a
    type of lipid. Characteristically, they melt above 45 C (113 F) to give a low viscosity liquid. Waxes are
    insoluble in water but soluble in organic, nonpolar solvents. All waxes are organic compounds, both synthetic
    and naturally occurring.

    Types
    Waxes are organic compounds that characteristically consist of long alkyl chains. Natural waxes may
    contain esters of carboxylic acids and long chain alcohols or mixtures of substituted hydrocarbons, such as
    long chain fatty acids and primary alcohols. Synthetic waxes are long-chain hydrocarbons lacking functional
    groups.

    Plant and animal waxes


    Waxes are synthesized by many plants and animals. Those of animal origin typically consist of wax esters
    derived from a variety of carboxylic acids and fatty alcohols. In waxes of plant origin characteristic mixtures of
    unesterified hydrocarbons may predominate over esters.[1] The composition depends not only on species, but
    also on geographic location of the organism. Because they are mixtures, naturally produced waxes are softer
    and melt at lower temperatures than the pure components.
    Animal waxes
    The most commonly known animal wax is beeswax, but other insects secrete waxes. A major component of the
    beeswax used in constructing honeycombs is the ester myricyl palmitate which is an ester of triacontanol and
    palmitic acid. Its melting point is 62-65 C. Spermaceti occurs in large amounts in the head oil of the sperm
    whale. One of its main constituents is cetyl palmitate, another ester of a fatty acid and a fatty alcohol. Lanolin is
    a wax obtained from wool, consisting of esters of sterols.[2]
    Plant waxes
    Plants secrete waxes into and on the surface of their cuticles as a way to control evaporation, wettability and
    hydration.[3] The epicuticular waxes of plants are mixtures of substituted long-chain aliphatic hydrocarbons,
    containing alkanes, alkyl esters, fatty acids, primary and secondary alcohols, diols, ketones, aldehydes.[1] From
    the commercial perspective, the most important plant wax is Carnauba wax, a hard wax obtained from the
    Brazilian palm Copernicia prunifera. Containing the ester myricyl cerotate, it has many applications, such as
    confectionery and other food coatings, car and furniture polish, floss coating, surfboard wax, and other uses.
    Other more specialized vegetable waxes include candelilla wax and ouricury wax.

    Petroleum derived waxes


    See also: Paraffin wax
    Although many natural waxes contain esters, paraffin waxes are hydrocarbons, mixtures of alkanes usually in a

    10/16/2015 12:50 PM

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