2175.     MARKLEY, K. S.  Synthetic Fatty Acids.  I. G. Farbenindustrie A.-G. Ludwigshafen, FIAT Final Rept. 362, 1945, 4 pp.; PB 1,315.

        Process used for the production of synthetic fatty acids at Oppau is the same as that used by the Deutsche Fettsäure Werke at Witten (abs. 2176 and abs. 3236), except that the latter plant used only Fischer gatsch paraffins, whereas the Oppau plant used Riebeck paraffins obtained from brown-coal pitch and Tief-Temperatur Hydrierung paraffin obtained by hydrogenation of brown coal, as well as synthetic paraffins produced by the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.  A considerable amount of work had been carried out on the nutrition value and toxicity of synthetic fatty acids produced by oxidation of paraffins from all 3 sources, and various tests have indicated that synthetic fatty acid glycerides are superior to natural fats owing to the fact that they are composed very largely of saturated fatty acids.  It is indicated from the results of physiological research that straight chain fatty acids, whether odd or even, are equally readily assimilated and utilized by the body at least in certain limited amounts.  However, branched chain, hydroxy, keto, and dicarboxylic acids, all of which are present in the synthetic acids, are not readily assimilated, if at all, and lead to retarded growth and abnormal excretion products in the urine.  However, it is possible to remove the oxygenated and dicarboxylic acids and the branched-chain acids by suitable treatment.