[The identification of several saturated fatty acids and their salts by means of infrared spectrometry].

It is considered that saturated fatty acids and their salts may be potential hydrocarbon-generation matters in carbonate rocks. However, there is no effective method to distinguish them from natural sediments, making recognizing their distribution in sediments a challenge. Formic acid, acetic acid, stearic acid, calcium formate, calcium acetate, magnesium acetate, calcium stearate, and magnesium stearate from some chemical plants were investigated by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Their infrared spectra were obtained and the distinctions of the infrared spectra between saturated fatty acids and their salts were studied in detail. The differences in the group's electron-releasing ability, molecular reduced mass, ion configuration and the length of carbon chain can cause wavelength shifts of infrared absorption peaks of the saturated fatty acids and their salts. The research provides a method for the identification of saturated fatty acids and their salts in samples from nature.