Investigation of cobalt stearate in the solid state and in solution in a benzene-methanol mixture

Infra-red studies confirm the ionic character of cobalt stearate. X-ray dif fraction analysis suggests that the soap possesses a single layer structure in which divalent metal ions are arranged in a parallel plane, i.e. a basa l plane equally spaced in a soap crystal with fully extended zig-zag chains of the fatty acid rests on both sides of each basal plane. Magnetic measur ements suggest that cobalt stearate is spinfree with octahedral geometry an d exhibits sp(3)d(2) hybridisation. Spectrophotometric measurement confirms that the metal-to-oxygen bonding in this soap has a very small covalent ch aracter.