Fischer-Tropsch-Gatsch process

Manufacture of fatty acids for soaps by the Fischer-Tropsch-Gatsch process... 

Oxidative fission of a carbon-carbon bond of aliphatic hydrocarbons is generally devoid of preparative interest because the chain may be broken at various places and mixtures of carboxylic, dicarboxylic, and hydroxy carboxylic acids with other oxidation products are formed. If, however, certain experimental conditions are precisely maintained, alkanes of high molecular weight can be oxidized catalytically by air, e.g., by the Fischer-Tropsch-Gatsch process, reasonably homogeneously to fatty acids of medium chain length (C10-C18), and this has assumed much industrial importance for the manufacture of soap. 

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