Morphology of Metal Salt of Carboxylic Acid: Metal and Acid Dependency on Branched Round Cluster Images

Abstract

Metallic salts of C10-18 aliphatic carboxylic acids were prepared and their scanning electron microscopic images were analyzed for the morphology dependency with the metal and the carboxylic acid. Regardless of metal ion, metal salts of dicarboxylic acids showed a high crystallinity with a fiber image (SuA-Na). The aromatic dicarboxylates also represented a morphology of a rectangular-rod or board shapes (IA-Li, IA-Ba). With Na ion, most aliphatic carboxylate (MA, PA, SA) showed a fiber-like crystallinity. However, other monovalent Li, K and multivalent Mg, especially Al ion resulted a glassy-amorphous in the metallic salts of acids (MA, PA, SA). With divalent Ba and Ca ions, the metal salt of aliphatic acids expressed a branched round cluster shape as in SA-Ca, SA-Ba. Both Li and Mg ions with a similar size showed a strong morphological similarity in the metallic salts of aliphatic acids MA, PA, SA. In the case of Na and Ca ions with a similar size (98, 106 pm), both ionic salts of stearic acid gave a branching effect for a fiber or round granular image. In the case of hydroxylaliphatic acids (HLA, HPA, HSA), the fiber images in HLA-Na and HSA-Na was appeared about 100 nm thicker than those of nonhydroxycarboxylates (LA-Na, SA-Na). The metallic salts of unsaturated C-18 carboxylic acids (OlA, LeA and LnA) showed an amorphous glassy image due to a kinked carbon chain.