Poly­hy­droxy estolides were suc­cess­fully syn­the­sised from oleic acid through a non-catalytic one-pot method. Gel per­me­ation chro­matog­ra­phy (GPC) analy­sis showed that the yield of the poly­hy­droxy estolides was about 72% and the num­ber aver­age mol­e­c­u­lar weight (Mn) of the prod­uct ranges between 1000 – 2200 Da. Other instru­men­tal analy­ses such as nuclear mag­netic res­o­nance (NMR), Fourier trans­form infra– Red (FTIR) and Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) as well as acid value analy­sis revealed that the pre­pared poly­hy­droxy estolides was oligomers of dihy­drox­ys­tearic acid linked by ester groups and fur­ther con­fir­ma­tion of the oligomers struc­ture was achieved by reduc­tion and saponi­fi­ca­tion reactions.

Keywords: epoxidation, oxirane ring opening, self-oligomerisation