For the saponification laboratory, sodium hydroxide was added to: (50S UOMO

Saponification is the process used for the production of the soap molecules via the hydrolysis of the triglyceride lipids.

The fat molecules used for the process is an ester of one molecule of glycerol (a triol) with three molecules of long-chain carboxylic acids i. e., the fatty acids.

The use of Sodium hydroxide is to hydrolyze the ester bond and produce the sodium salts of the corresponding fatty acids in the fat, which are important for the soap molecules.

For the hydrolysis process, any strong base can be used but if an acid were to be used, a fatty acid rather than its salt will result and only fatty acid salts have a polar head and a non-polar tail which makes them soap. NaOH being cheap and readily available in most laboratories is preferred.