Dimer and trimer acid esters from epoxidized compounds and methods for their preparation

Abstract

Mixtures of dimeric and trimeric fatty acid C1-4 alkyl esters and processes for their preparation comprising either A) epoxidizing an unsaturated or partially hydrogenated fatty acid glyceride; B) transesterifying the epoxidized glyceride with a C1-4 alkanol to obtain epoxidized fatty acid C1-4 alkyl esters; and C) ring opening and dimerizing the epoxidized fatty acid C1-4 alkyl esters; or A) transesterifying an unsaturated or partially hydrogenated glyceride with a C1-4 alkanol to obtain olefinically unsaturated fatty acid C1-4 alkyl esters; B) epoxidizing the unsaturated fatty acid C1-4 alkyl esters; and C) ring opening and dimerizing the epoxidized fatty acid C1-4 alkyl esters.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.