Napalm Napalm Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline (petrol) or diesel fuel). The title is a portmanteau of the names of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: co-precipitated aluminium salts of naphthenic and palmitic acids. Napalm B is the more modern version of napalm (utilizing styrene derivatives) and, although distinctly different in its chemical composition, is often referred to simply as "napalm". Napalm was originally developed in 1942 in a secret laboratory at Harvard University, by a team led by chemist Louis Fieser under the United States
Copper naphthenate adhesion promoters, lubricant additives, and catalysts where oil solubility is required. Naphthenic acid is a complex group of carboxylic acids with the general formula CHO where n indicates the carbon number and z specifies the hydrogen deficiency resulting from ring formation. Naphthenic acids occur naturally in crude oil at varying concentrations, and their composition varies with the crude oil composition and the conditions during refining. Crude oils with total acid number (TAN) as little as 0.5 mg KOH/g acid or petroleum fractions greater than about 1.0 mg KOH/g oil usually qualify as a high acid crude or oil. At the