Talk:Sodium stearate

Edits
The article repeats the "component of soap" line quite a few times. Someone should fix that.

Synthesis
The synthetic procedure stated in the article claims that to go from stearic acid to sodium stearate one would go through a stearin intermediate by combining with glycerol. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but combining sodium hydroxide with stearic acid would produce sodium stearate without the need for glycerol in the procedure. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.38.89.194 (talk) 05:34, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

Chemical formula
I either don't get something, or the article has an error. It claims "And reacting that stearin with sodium hydroxide to produce sodium stearate and glycerol: C3H5(C18H35O2)3 + 3 NaOH → C3H5(OH)3 + 3 C17H35COONa" Effectively saying that sodium sterate's formula is C17H35COONa, while in the properties section it says that molecular formula is "C18H35NaO2". I aint no chemist, but I can see a contradiction. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.46.221.118 (talk) 21:34, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
 * "C17H35COONa" and "C18H35NaO2" are two different ways of writing the same chemical formula. -- Ed (Edgar181) 21:37, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

Recent addition
There is a problem with this recent addition: ''In addition, It is also used in the pharmaceutical industry as a surfactant, to aid the solubility of hydrophobic compounds in the production of various oral dosage forms. It does this due to the molecule having both hydrophilic and hydrophobic nature. Many Magnesium Stearate molecules form a micelle, presenting their hydrophilic heads outwards and their hydrophobic heads inwards, providing a lipophilic environment for hydrophobic compounds to exist in. '' The paragraph is about magnesium stearate, but this article is about sodium stearate. So was this added to the wrong article, or did someone just use the wrong chemical name??? 71.185.49.174 (talk) 19:55, 2 April 2011 (UTC)

Magnesium Stearate is a glidant in the pharmaceutical industry, sodium stearate is a surfactanat. The information is correct. I just mistakingly wrote magnesium stearate. whoops. :)

I'll change it and put it back.