Cetaceum

Sparmaceti. Cetaceum, Sperm wax. A waxy substance from the head of the sperm whale. Constit. Chiefly cetyl palmitate free cetyl alcohol present in appreciable amounts esters of lauric, stearic, and myristic acids esters of higher alcohols also present. 

Cetyl palmitate—Cetin—chief constituent of spermaceti=cetaceum (U. S., Br.), which, besides cetin, contains ethers of palmitic, steaiic, myristic, and laurostearic acids and of the alcohols lethal, CuHieO methal, C HsoO ethal, CieUnO and stethal, CieSsgO. 

Waxes are esters of higher fatty acids and fatty alcohols. Pharmaceutically important examples are the liquid Decyl oleate (unsaturated Cetiol V ), the semisolid Wool fat (Adeps lanae) and the solids Yellow wax (Cera flava). Bees wax, white (Cera alba, white wax) and Cetyl palmitate (Cetaceum). The solid waxes are mainly used to increase the consistency of semisolid skin preparations (see Sect. 12.5.2). Waxy liquid compounds are ethyl oleate, isopropyl myristate and benzyl benzoate. In the first two cases the fatty acid is esterified with a short-chain alcohol. 

Cetyl palmitate (Cetaceum) is no longer used because of the endangered status of the sperm whale from which it originates. There is a little used synthetic variant on the market. It consists of a mixture of cetylesters with fatty acids in the order size C14 to Cig. 

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