Stearic acid, also called octadecanoic acid, is one of the useful types of saturated fatty acids that comes from many animal and vegetable fats and oils. It is a waxy solid, and its chemical formula is CH3(CH2)16COOH. Its name comes from the Greek word stear, which means tallow. Its IUPAC name is octadecanoic acid.
Belongs to the class of organic compounds known as long-chain fatty acids. These are fatty acids with an aliphatic tail that contains between 13 and 21 carbon atoms.
Arnold W. Fogel, “12-hydroxy stearic acid esters, compositions based upon same and methods of using and making such compositions.” U.S. Patent US5993861, issued July, 1998.