Palmitic acid World War II to produce napalm. The word "napalm" is derived from the words naphthenic acid and palmitic acid. Palmitic acid was discovered by Edmond Frémy in 1840, in saponified palm oil. This remains the primary industrial route for its production, with the triglycerides (fats) in palm oil being hydrolysed by high temperature water (above ), and the resulting mixture fractionally distilled to give the pure product. Palmitic acid is naturally produced by a wide range of other plants and organisms, typically at low levels. It is naturally present in butter, cheese, milk, and meat, as well as cocoa butter,
Ucuhuba seed oil Ucuhuba seed oil Ucuhuba seed oil is the oil extracted from the seed of "Virola surinamensis" (ucuhuba). The ucuhuba tree is found in Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Its seeds provide oil rich in myristic acid. The ucuhuba oil contains 13% lauric acid, 69% myristic acid, 7% palmitic acid and traces of oleic acid and linoleic acid. Myristic and lauric acids comprised 91.3 mole % of the total fatty acids. Although additional saturated fatty acids were found (decanoic acid, palmitic acid, and stearic acid), they occurred only as minor components. Small amounts of