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Updated: Sep 29, 2026

Free Radicals in Chemical Biology: from Chemical Behavior to Biomarker Development
Published on: April 15, 2013
Polymorphism of N-stearoylethanolamine: differential scanning calorimetric, vibrational spectroscopic (FTIR), and
J Wouters1, S Vandevoorde, C Culot
1Faculté des Sciences, Facultés universitaires Notre Dame de la Paix, Rue de Bruxelles, 61, 5000 Namur, Belgium.
Abstract:
Based on a series of physicochemical properties (differential scanning calorimetry, powder X-ray crystallographic studies and Fourier-transform infra red spectroscopic analysis) determined for N-stearoylethanolamine (NSEA) (C18:0) at different temperatures, evidence has been given that this compound can exist in (at least) three polymorphic forms. Powder X-ray crystallography clearly demonstrates the presence of three distinct molecular packings at distinct temperatures while spectral changes in the vibrational spectra reveal that the geometry of the CH(2)z.sbnd;CO functional group of the molecule is affected during the polymorphic transitions. Rationalization of the thermal physicochemical behavior of NSEA in terms of molecular packing is also proposed. It supposes rearrangement of the hydrocarbon chains upon heating of the molecule.
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