The salts and esters of stearic acid are called stearates.
A second problem is that the stearic acid makes the paper brittle.
Stearyl alcohol is prepared from stearic acid or some fats by the process of catalytic hydrogenation.
Stearic acid was chosen because of its relatively ubiquity as a biomolecule, and because of its carboxylic acid functionality and the ability to form organic salts (magnesium stearate).
However, it should be noted that some of the intracrystalline organic matter would probably still be present as stearic acid and on pyrolysis could produce n-alkanes that would readily volatilize.
This suggests that intracrystalline stearic acid and magnesium stearate are present.
The primary approach for generating plant oils enriched in stearic acid has been to enhance metabolic flow from palmitic to stearic acid in developing seeds.
Various starting concentrations of stearic acid in solution in methanol were precipitated.
