Introduction animal fats are rich in triglycerides (gl hydroxide days, soap was made by heating water, wood ashes and the rendered down fat of the latest kil s are a source of naoh and koh. when bination is heated together in water, the ester groups of the fat undergo nucleophilic attack by the to release glycerol and three molecules of long chain carboxylic acids as their sodium and ycerol esters) and wood ashe potassium salts ( base catalyzed ester hydrolysis is called saponification (soaponification? ) ay, we shall be substituting shortening for bear fat and naoh for wood ashes to make soap part a experimental - ester hydrolysis given: shortening (4 g), 95% ethanol (15 ml), naoh (2 g), water (10 ml) a lab with glassware, organic and inorganic compounds useful hints present the written group plan to your instructor which outlines how the ester groups of fat are to be base hydrolyzed to produce carboxylate anions and glycerol. reflux an ethanolic shortening solution with an aqueous base solution for 30 minutes. make sure all ground glass joints are wiped clean of base solution or they will seize up objective: hints: part b-workup given reaction mixture from part a, naci (12 g), water (50 ml) glassware etc useful hints objective: present the written group plan to your instructor which outlines how the carboxylate anions are to be precipitated as the sodium salt and so make soap cold aqueous salt solutions are good sources of sodium ions use a j-cloth to filter the crystals. you will have to gently squeeze the cloth to remove hints: the naoh solution. discard the naoh filtrate. be careful of strong base solutions! wear wash the crystals with ice water and again isolate the product. place the product on a paper towel with wax paper under the paper towel. use the paper towel to dry the product and make a cute shape out it. store in your section's locker and allow to dry lh product and apaper towel