The IUPAC name of Hexadecyl lactate is hexadecyl 2-hydroxypropanoate . With the CAS registry number 35274-05-6, it is also named as n-Hexadecyl-2-hydroxypropanoate ; 2-Hydroxypropanoic acid hexadecyl ester ; Propanoicacid,2-hydroxy-,hexadecylester ; Ceraphyl 28 ; Lactic acid cetyl ester ; Lactic acid hexadecyl ester . The product's categories are esters, auxiliary chemicals, non-ionic surface active agent and industrial surfactant.

The Hexadecyl lactate is the easter of cetyl alcohol and lactic acid. It is white to light yellow soft solid which has lubrication and softening to the skin. So it can be used as binding agent and deliquescent substance in the cosmetics. It has been determined safe for use in the cosmetics.

This product can be obtained by the following method. 1. Adding cetyl alcohol to reactor, preheated to 50 ~ 60 °C; 2. Adding an excess of lactic acid and the amount of catalyst of sulfuric acid under stirring; 3. Refluxed 8 h; 4. Recoverying excess lactic acid; 5. Adding 5% alkaline solution neutralized; 6. Water distribution; 7. decompressing dehydration and low boiling point material; 8. Obtaining the product. The structure of objective product can be confirmed by characterization with Fourier transform infrared spectrum (FTIR), nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) and mass spectrometer (MS).

The other characteristics of this product can be summarized as: (1)ACD/BCF (pH 5.5): 191004.27 ; (2)ACD/BCF (pH 7.4): 191003.84 ; (3)ACD/KOC (pH 5.5): 209771.44 ; (4)ACD/KOC (pH 7.4): 209770.97 ; (5)#H bond acceptors: 3 ; (6)#H bond donors: 1 ; (7)#Freely Rotating Bonds: 18 ; (8)Index of Refraction: 1.455 ; (9)Molar Refractivity: 93.34 cm³ ; (10)Molar Volume: 343.5 cm³ ; (11)Polarizability: 37×10^-24 cm³ ; (12)Surface Tension: 33.5 dyne/cm ; (13)Enthalpy of Vaporization: 69.45 kJ/mol ; (14)Vapour Pressure: 1.87E-06 mmHg at 25°C.

People can use the following data to convert to the molecule structure. SMILES: O=C(OCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC)C(O)C; InChI: InChI=1/C19H38O3/c1-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-22-19(21)18(2)20/h18,20H,3-17H2,1-2H3. Hexadecyl lactate has many suppliers, such as  China Yangtze Pchem Co., Ltd. and Malladi Specialties Ltd..