glycerol

glycerol, a clear, colourless, viscous, sweet-tasting liquid belonging to the alcohol family of organic compounds; molecular formula HOCH₂CHOHCH₂OH. Until 1948 all glycerol was obtained as a by-product in making soaps from animal and vegetable fats and oils, but industrial syntheses based on propylene or sugar has accounted for an increasingly large percentage of production since that time. The term glycerin (or glycerine), introduced in 1811 by French chemist Michel-Eugène Chevreul, is ordinarily applied to commercial materials containing more than 95 percent glycerol. Though Chevreul gave glycerin its name, the substance was first isolated in 1783 by German Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele, who described it as the “sweet principle of fat.”

Glycerol has numerous uses. It is a basic ingredient in the gums and resins used to make many modern protective coatings such as automotive enamels and exterior house paints. Glycerin reacted with nitric and sulfuric acid forms the explosive nitroglycerin (or nitroglycerine).

Glycerol is also a component of mono- and diglyceride emulsifiers, which are used as softening agents in baked goods, plasticizers in shortening, and stabilizers in ice cream. Its varied uses in the pharmaceutical and toilet goods fields include skin lotions, mouthwashes, cough medicines, drug solvents, serums, vaccines, and suppositories. Another significant use is as a protective medium for freezing red blood cells, sperm cells, eye corneas, and other living tissues. At one time, its largest single use was as automotive antifreeze; methanol and ethylene glycol have replaced it for this purpose.

Fats and oils are valued chiefly as sources of the carboxylic acids that are present, combined in the form of esters with glycerol. When the acids are set free from these compounds, glycerol remains as a solution in water and is purified by coagulating and settling extraneous matter, evaporating the water, and distilling.