Wool grease

Eats and oils from a number of animal and vegetable sources are the feedstocks for the manufacture of natural higher alcohols. These materials consist of triglycerides glycerol esterified with three moles of a fatty acid. The alcohol is manufactured by reduction of the fatty acid functional group. A small amount of natural alcohol is also obtained commercially by saponification of natural wax esters of the higher alcohols, such as wool grease. 

Lanolin alcohols are obtained by saponification of purified wool grease, a mixture of high molecular esters that is recovered in wool (qv) scouring. Ethoxylation of purified lanolin alcohols yields a full series of lipophilic and hydrophilic nonionic emulsifiers whose largest use is in cosmetic preparations. Manufacturers include Amerchol, Croda, ICI, Henkel Corporation, Westbrook Lanolin, Witco, and Pulcra, SA. 

Provitamin D. Provitamin is made from cholesterol, and its commercial production begias with the isolation of cholesterol from one of its natural sources. Cholesterol occurs ia many animals, and is generally extracted from wool grease obtained by washing wool after it is sheared from sheep. This grease is a mixture of fatty-acid esters, which contain ca 15 wt % cholesterol. The alcohol fraction is obtained after saponification, and the cholesterol is separated, usually by complexation with 2iac chloride, followed by decomplexation and crystallisation. Cholesterol can also be extracted from the spiaal cords and brains of animals, especially catde, and from fish oils. 

In wool scouring, the contaminants on the wool, mainly grease, dirt, suint, and protein material, are washed off the fiber and remain in the wastewaters either in emulsions or suspension (grease, dirt, protein) or in solution (suint). Centrifugal extraction of the wastewaters produces a grease contaminated with detergent and suint. This product is called wool grease. 

Uses of Wool Grease. The uses of wool grease, lanolin, and lanolin derivatives are many, ranging from pharmaceuticals and cosmetics (qv) to printing inks (qv), mst preventatives, and lubricants (see Lubrication and lubricants). 

R. S. Asquith, ed.. Chemistry of Natural Protein Fibers, Plenum Press, New York and London, 1977 R. G. Stewart and L. E. Story, Wool Grease A Review of Its... 

In the early 1930 s, when the prime research aim was the commercial synthesis of the sex hormones (whose structures had just been elucidated), the principal raw material available was cholesterol extracted from the spinal cord or brain of cattle or from sheep wool grease. This sterol (as its 3-acetate 5,6-dibromide) was subjected to a rather drastic chromic acid oxidation, which produced a variety of acidic, ketonic and hydroxylated products derived mainly by attack on the alkyl side-chain. The principal ketonic material, 3j -hydroxyandrost-5-en-17-one, was obtained in yields of only about 7% another useful ketone, 3 -hydroxypregn-5-en-20-one (pregnenolone) was obtained in much lower yield. The chief acidic product was 3j -hydroxy-androst-5-ene-17j -carboxylic acid. All three of these materials were then further converted by various chemical transformations into steroid hormones and synthetic analogs ... 

WoU-faser, /. wool fiber, -fett, n. wool fat, wool grease, -fettsaure, /. wool fat acid, -filz, m. wool felt, -gam, n. woolen yarn, -gamfett, n. wool yarn grease, -griin, n. wool green. woUig, a. woolly. 

A wax-like material obtained from wool grease. It is readily absorbed by the skin and may be used to prevent dermatitis. 

Wool grease, 26 208-209 alcohols from, 2 2 Wool keratin... 

Volunteers were exposed for 24 hours to [14C]diazinon applied to either the forearm or abdomen in acetone or lanolin wool grease (Wester et al. 1993). Absorption was determined to be 3-4% of the applied dose with no difference related to vehicle or the area applied. 

Human volunteers were exposed for 24 hours to 2-pyrimidinyl ring-labeled [14C] -diazinon applied to either the forearm or abdomen in either an acetone solution or a lanolin wool grease at doses of approximately 15-20 pg/dose for each application method to test the percutaneous absorption of diazinon. Daily complete void urine samples were collected and analyzed for levels of radioactivity for 7 days after dosing. Percutaneous absorption, calculated from the amount of radioactivity present in the urine, was reported as 2.9-3.85% of the administered dose (Wester et al. 1993). 

Wool fibers are hair that is covered with tiny, lustrous scales. Oils are secreted along the hairs from glands adjacent to the hair follicles. These oils travel up the hair shaft and give the fleece its natural waterproofing. In sheep, this wool grease is lanolin. Wool hairs are soft, wavy and flexible (Table 6.4). Beard hairs are longer, more flexible, and are found only in the outside coat. 

Leather is also softened, after it is dried, by the addition of grease at temperatures at which it is fluid. These stuffing compounds are made from wool grease or high-melting (230-266°C, 110-130°F) mixmres of mineral waxes and fatty acids. For reasons that are not understood, they must be used at much higher levels than fatliquors— usually about 30% of the weight of the leather, instead of 10-15%. 

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