Question

The alkaline hydrolysis of oils and fats is called:

Answer 1

Hint: The alkaline hydrolysis of fats and oil is known as saponification. The term Saponification means soap making. It is the hydrolysis of fats or oils under basic conditions to get the glycerol and the salt of the corresponding fatty acid. Saponification is important to the industrial user for it helps to know the amount of free fatty acid that is present in a food material.

Complete answer:
The alkaline hydrolysis of oils and fats is called Saponification. Saponification can be defined as a hydration reaction where free hydroxide breaks the ester bonds between the fatty acids and glycerol of a triglyceride, resulting in free fatty acids and glycerol, which are each soluble in aqueous solutions.
Saponification is simply the process of making soaps. During saponification, ester reacts with an inorganic base to produce alcohol and soap. Generally, it occurs when triglycerides are reacted with potassium or sodium hydroxide to produce glycerol and fatty acid salt, called soap.
Saponification Value $=(A-B)\times N\times 56.1W$. This method is used to determine the total acid content, both free and combined, of tall oil. Acid number only measures the free acid. The combined acids are primarily esters formed by reaction with the neutral components present in the original tall oil.

Note:
The higher the saponification value, the lower the fatty acids average length, the lighter the mean molecular weight of triglycerides and vice versa. Practically, fats or oils with high saponification value such as coconut and palm oil are more suitable for soap making.