Iron caprylate is one of four substances (along with iron linoleate,
iron naphthenate and iron tallate) that are included among commercial products known as metallic driers. They hasten the drying
of oleoresinous coating materials which are used to line the inner
surfaces of food-containing cans. Each preparation represents a mixture rather than a single compound; its composition will
depend upon the nature and amount of organic acids in the parent
oil. Commercial preparations contain both ferrous and ferric salts,
with a total iron content of about 6 or 7 percent.
Iron caprylate is better known as iron octanoate. Metallic salts of
normal octanoic acid (caprylic acid) are relatively insoluble in oil,
so that the octanoates used commercially are usually the more
soluble salts of a branched-chain isomer, 2 -ethylhexanoic acid.
