Mensah M B, Awudza J A M, O'Brien P
Department of Chemistry, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, PMB, Kumasi, Ghana.
School of Chemistry and School of Materials, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
R Soc Open Sci. 2018 Aug 15;5(8):180824. doi: 10.1098/rsos.180824. eCollection 2018 Aug.
Castor oil (CO) is an inedible vegetable oil (VO) that has been employed extensively as a bioresource material for the synthesis of biodegradable polymers, cosmetics, lubricants, biofuels, coatings and adhesives. It is used in medicine, pharmaceuticals and biorefineries, due to its versatile chemistry. However, there has been less focus on CO as an alternative to toxic and expensive solvents, and capping/stabilizing agents routinely used in nanoparticle syntheses. It provides a richer chemistry than edible VOs as a solvent for green syntheses of nanoparticles. CO, being the only rich source of ricinoleic acid (RA), has been used as a solvent, co-solvent, stabilizing agent and polyol for the formation of polymer-nanoparticle composites. RA is a suitable alternative to oleic acid used as a capping and/or stabilizing agent. Unlike oleic acid, it provides a facile route to the functionalization of surfaces of nanoparticles and the coating of nanoparticles with polymers. For applications requiring more polar organic solvents, RA is more preferred than oleic acid. In this review, we discuss the production, chemical and physical properties, triglyceride and fatty acid (FA) compositions and applications of CO, focusing on the use of CO and RA as well as other VOs and FAs in syntheses of nanoparticles and surface functionalization.
蓖麻油（CO）是一种不可食用的植物油（VO），已被广泛用作生物资源材料，用于合成可生物降解的聚合物、化妆品、润滑剂、生物燃料、涂料和粘合剂。由于其化学性质多样，它被用于医药、制药和生物精炼厂。然而，人们较少关注将蓖麻油作为纳米颗粒合成中常规使用的有毒且昂贵的溶剂以及封端/稳定剂的替代品。作为纳米颗粒绿色合成的溶剂，蓖麻油比可食用植物油具有更丰富的化学性质。蓖麻油是蓖麻油酸（RA）的唯一丰富来源，已被用作溶剂、共溶剂、稳定剂和多元醇，用于形成聚合物-纳米颗粒复合材料。蓖麻油酸是用作封端和/或稳定剂的油酸的合适替代品。与油酸不同，它为纳米颗粒表面功能化和用聚合物包覆纳米颗粒提供了一条简便途径。对于需要更多极性有机溶剂的应用，蓖麻油酸比油酸更受青睐。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了蓖麻油的生产、化学和物理性质、甘油三酯和脂肪酸（FA）组成及应用，重点关注蓖麻油和蓖麻油酸以及其他植物油和脂肪酸在纳米颗粒合成和表面功能化中的应用。
