Quantitative analysis of cyclic dimer fatty acid content in the dimerization product by proton NMR spectroscopy.

In this work, (1)H NMR is utilized for the quantitative analysis of a specific cyclic dimer fatty acid in a dimer acid mixture using the pseudo-standard material of mesitylene on the basis of its structural similarity. Mesitylene and cyclic dimer acid levels were determined using the signal of the proton on the cyclic ring (δ=6.8) referenced to the signal of maleic acid (δ=6.2). The content of the cyclic dimer fatty acid was successfully determined through the standard curve of mesitylene and the reported equation. Using the linearity of the mesitylene curve, the cyclic dimer fatty acid in the oil mixture was quantified. The results suggest that the proposed method can be used to quantify cyclic compounds in mixtures to optimize the dimerization process.