Chemical Modification of Pigskin Gelatin: Factors Affecting the Esterification of Gelatin with Fatty Acid

This study investigated the esterification of pigskin gelatin with fatty acid catalyzed by acid in aqueous medium. Factors affecting the esterification reaction B temperature, pH, water content, fatty acid concentration, fatty acid type and reaction time‐ were elucidated in the view of optimizing the reaction. Under the same experimental conditions, increase in fatty acid concentration permitted the determination of the maximum amount of fatty acid that could be esterified per unit weight of gelatin and demonstrated that not all the hydroxyl functional groups present in the gelatin could be blocked by the fatty acid chains.