Dream of Saponification
<p>Which means you also know that ‘<em>when the carboxylate is long chain, its salt is called a soap</em>’. And that the esters in question are oils and fats, and the aqueous alkali is traditionally lye, or caustic soda.</p>
<p>As our learned friend Dr Wikipedia continues to explain, the lye ‘<em>cleaves the ester bonds</em>’. This is an unwittingly apposite turn of phrase, since ‘cleave’ is one of those chimeric contranyms, or Janus words, that encapsulates its own opposite.</p>
<p>To split or sever in two. To stick fast or firmly adhere to. Flip a coin and take your choice, Dr Schrödinger.</p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/pitfall/dream-of-saponification-d8a298f51d50"><strong>Read More</strong></a></p>