Name the reaction which is commonly used in the conversion of vegetable oil to fats. Explain the reaction involved in detail.

Explanation

The reaction that is used to convert vegetable oils to fats is called as hydrogenation reaction. Vegetable oils contain unsaturated hydrocarbons which can exhibit addition reaction with hydrogen to form saturated hydrocarbons or fats. The reaction occurs in the presence of metal catalyst like finely divided nickel or palladium at `200^(@)C` and forms saturated vegetable fats. The hydrogenation reaction is an industrial method for the manufacturing of vanaspati ghee from vegetable oil.

Here, R is any alkyl group which usually contains a
large number of carbon atoms in vegetable oils.