Abstract:
The objectives of this research were to isolate and characterize beeswax
hydrocarbons. The physicochemical parameters of the bleached beeswax have shown
that the sample contains ester constituents and unsaturated compounds. In addition,
both peroxide and acid values were found to be zero. Silica gel column
chromatography was used to fractionate the bleached beeswax components. Elution
with n-hexane was carried out to separate the nonpolar constituents (fraction 1).
Structural and thermal analyses were performed to characterize fraction 1. Fourier
transform infrared (FT-IR) has demonstrated the successful isolation of the
hydrocarbons because of the presence of pure absorption peaks of hydrocarbons.
Furthermore, high temperature gas chromatography (HT-GC/FID) has displayed that
fraction 1 contains eleven different hydrocarbons. They are linear and saturated even
and odd numbered hydrocarbons. They range between C23 to C50. Differential
scanning calorimetry (DSC) revealed that fraction 1 (hydrocarbons) is crystalline in
nature.
