The fatty acids used here were myristic acid (n-tetradecanoic
acid) (CH3(CH2)12COOH: C14), stearic acid (noctadecanoic
acid) (CH3-(CH2)16COOH: C18) and oleic
acid (cis-9-octadecenoic acid) (CH3(CH2)7-CH = CH(CH2)7
COOH: C18q). These fatty acids were obtained from
Aldrich and employed without any further purification.
They were dissolved in a mixture of methanol and water,
and then reacted with NaOH to produce sodium salts of fatty
acids. The precipitates of sodium salts were added to an
aqueous solution of silver nitrate to yield silver salts.