Oleamide: Properties, Uses in Plastics and Regulatory Status

Oleamide (oleic acid amide, CAS 301-02-0) is a primary unsaturated fatty acid amide used as a fast-blooming slip agent in polyolefin film, where 500 to 1,200 ppm (0.05 to 0.12 wt%) lowers the coefficient of friction (COF) enough for bags and liners to open and run on a filling line. Because the C18 chain diffuses to the surface faster than the C22 chain of erucamide, the choice between the two amides is a question of bloom speed against heat stability.

Oleamide is authorised for EU food-contact plastics as FCM substance 335 under Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 with no specific migration limit, so the generic SML of 60 mg/kg and the overall migration limit of 10 mg/dm2 apply; it does not appear on the REACH Candidate List and it carries no harmonised classification under the CLP Regulation (status 22 September 2026). Oleamide is one of 10 slip agent pages in our directory of plastic additives, each with the same identity, dosage and regulatory fields.

This page holds the data sheet and the compliance file together: identity, the bloom mechanism, the constants, the dosage from blown film to mould release, 5 uses, the test methods, a dated regulatory matrix that corrects the US food-contact claim, the amide comparison and the producers.

Table T1. Oleamide identity card.

Footnote: identity and physical data from PubChem CID 5283387; EC number and registration identity from ECHA CHEM 100.167.998; the food-contact entry from the Union list of Regulation (EU) No 10/2011. Status as of 22 September 2026.

What Is Oleamide (Oleic Acid Amide)?#

Oleamide is the primary amide of oleic acid: an 18-carbon chain with one cis double bond at position 9 and a terminal CONH2 group, which makes it a slip agent for polyolefins rather than a lubricant for the melt. Replacing the carboxylic acid group of oleic acid with a primary amide group gives the formula C18H35NO at 281.5 g/mol, and the property the whole slip function rests on: limited solubility in polyethylene. The shorthand C18:1 records both halves of that structure, and the cis double bond holds the melting point at 76 °C (168.8 °F), far below that of the saturated C18 amide stearamide. What does a slip agent actually do?

A slip agent is an additive that lowers the coefficient of friction of a plastic surface, film to film or film to metal, and most slip agents reach that surface by migrating to it after processing. Film-to-film friction decides whether a bag opens on an automatic filling machine; film-to-metal friction decides how the web runs over the forming collar, the sealing bars and the chilled rolls. Oleamide belongs to the migrating slips, and the hub on slip additives for plastic film compares all 6 classes, from the primary amides to the non-migrating silicones.

Is oleamide the same as oleic acid amide?#

Yes: oleamide, oleic acid amide, oleylamide and cis-9-octadecenamide are four names for the same substance, CAS 301-02-0. The naming matters when reading regulations, because the US Code of Federal Regulations prints "oleic acid amide" in 21 CFR 178.3910 and "oleamide" in 21 CFR 175.105, and a compliance search on one spelling misses the other. PubChem adds the inverted index form 9-octadecenamide, (Z)-, which is the entry a chromatography data system usually returns, and the naming conventions of the whole class are set out on fatty acid amide slip agents.

Why is oleamide supplied as a waxy solid, powder or bead?#

Oleamide is an ivory-coloured waxy solid that melts at 76 °C (168.8 °F), so it is traded as powder, flakes or beads and is metered into the extruder either as a free-flowing solid or through a slip masterbatch. A melting point that low is the reason suppliers offer micro-pearls and free-flowing grades rather than one physical form. Powder, flake and bead are three of the additive product forms a film plant has to handle, and the choice is driven by dosing accuracy: gravimetric accuracy at ppm level is difficult at the converter, which pushes most film lines towards a concentrate. Our verified data set records no bulk density, particle size or melt viscosity for oleamide.

How Does Oleamide Reduce Friction in Plastic Film?#

Oleamide lowers friction by blooming: it is only slightly soluble in polyethylene, so after the melt cools the excess amide diffuses to the film surface and builds a thin, weakly bound layer that slides instead of sticking. Nouman and colleagues, in Polymer Degradation and Stability in 2017, describe blooming as supersaturation after cooling at a rate set by the diffusion coefficient of the additive in the matrix, so the bulk polymer acts as the reservoir and the surface acts as the working zone. At that surface the amide self-assembles into lubricating layers that lower film-to-film and film-to-metal COF at the same time. How much friction is low enough?

Suppliers aim at a COF of about 0.2 for polyolefin film, a working convention rather than a value fixed by any standard, and the converter sets the real target from the machine that runs the film. Wanted and unwanted blooming and exudation in plastics follow the same diffusion rules, which is why the process that gives a bag its slip is the one that puts a haze on a stored sheet. Our verified data set holds no measured COF value for oleamide at a stated dosage, so this page gives no oleamide COF number.

How fast does oleamide bloom to the surface?#

Fatty amide slips deliver most of their COF reduction within 24 to 48 hours and reach their final COF after 7 to 10 days, and oleamide sits at the fast end of that range because of its shorter C18 chain. Ampacet reports that window for fatty amide slips, and our verified data set ties the measurement to erucamide, so the figure belongs to the class. Slow bloom is preferred for roll stock, because a COF that falls while the web is still on the winder causes winding problems and telescoping, which is why a fast amide is not automatically the better amide. The full bloom curve is plotted on slip agent migration and COF development.

Why does a shorter chain bloom faster than erucamide?#

Oleamide blooms faster than erucamide because its C18:1 chain is four carbons shorter and therefore diffuses more quickly through the polymer, and the same shortness costs it thermal stability and raises its volatility. Chain length is the single variable that orders the whole amide family for bloom rate, and Ampacet states the rule directly: a shorter chain reaches the surface sooner and tolerates less heat. The C22 amide, erucamide, blooms more slowly and survives a hotter process, remaining stable to about 240 °C (464 °F) according to supplier data, at CAS 112-84-5 and 337.6 g/mol.

What Are the Physical and Chemical Properties of Oleamide?#

Oleamide is an ivory-coloured waxy solid with a melting point of 76 °C (168.8 °F), a density of 0.94 g/cm3 and a molecular weight of 281.5 g/mol. The table below separates the constants recorded by PubChem from the properties our verified data set does not hold for this substance.

Table T2. Physical and chemical properties of oleamide.

Commercial grades are sold with a melting range of about 68 to 76 °C (154.4 to 168.8 °F), so compare the supplier's own specification rather than the pure-substance value, because amide content and residual fatty acid move the range. Two rows above are deliberately empty: our verified data set records no water solubility, no boiling point, no flash point and no decomposition temperature for oleamide, and filling them would repeat a supplier estimate rather than a measured constant.

Which Polymers Use Oleamide, and at What Dosage?#

Oleamide is used almost entirely in polyolefins, at 0.05 to 0.12 wt% (500 to 1,200 ppm) in LDPE and LLDPE blown film, and at more than 0.5 wt% when the job is mould release rather than film slip. Struktol positions its TR 121 grade at about 0.05 % in films and above 0.5 % for mould release, one substance doing two jobs with a factor of ten between the levels. Why is the range given in ppm rather than phr?

Polyolefin additives are dosed in wt% or ppm of the compound, while phr, parts per hundred resin, is the PVC and rubber convention, where the plasticizer or filler load makes the resin a sensible reference base. Slip sits at the ppm end of the ladder of additive dosage levels in plastics, far below fillers and plasticizers, and the slip agent class accounts for 0.1 to 3 wt% of plastic products according to Chea and colleagues (2025), from Hahladakis and colleagues (2018). The EFSA intended-use ladder for the branched alkanamides of FCM 1065, at 0.2 wt% in films, 0.5 wt% in closures, 0.9 wt% in compression-moulded and 1.0 wt% in injection-moulded articles, is a class proxy and not an oleamide value.

Table T3. Typical oleamide levels by polymer and process.

Oleamide in polyethylene film (LDPE, LLDPE and HDPE)#

Oleamide is the fast-blooming slip in LDPE and LLDPE blown film, dosed at 500 to 1,200 ppm (0.05 to 0.12 wt%) alongside an antiblock, a processing aid and, where needed, an antistat and an antifog. Those five functions are the standard blown-film additive package, and slip is the only one that has to leave the bulk to work. As film gauge rises, the slip level comes down for the same COF, because the same amide mass reaches a smaller surface per unit weight, so a heavy liner and a thin bag film do not carry the same ppm figure.

Roll stock changes the calculation. A film wound and stored before conversion needs its COF to fall after winding, and an amide that reaches the surface inside the first day risks telescoping on the reel, which is where a converter moves from oleamide to a C22 amide. HDPE film follows the same rules with a stiffer web. The full film package is compared on slip agents for polyethylene film, where the antiblock and antistat choices are set beside the amide.

Oleamide in polypropylene and injection moulding#

Oleamide is the second choice in polypropylene, because its lower thermal stability and higher volatility suit the cooler polyethylene film line better than a BOPP or fibre process. Oleamide can nevertheless be found in moulded polypropylene articles: a 2020 study in Foods detected oleamide at 12 to 23 ng/mL in leachates of non-PET baby bottles, which shows the amide surviving a moulding process and reaching the contacting medium. Above 0.5 wt% the role in a moulding compound changes from surface slip to mould release. Heat-stable choices for BOPP lines are set out on slip agents for polypropylene and BOPP.

Oleamide in slip masterbatch#

Oleamide reaches most film lines as a slip masterbatch rather than as neat powder, because dosing 500 ppm accurately at the hopper is harder than letting down a concentrate. Slip concentrates are one of the standard forms of additive masterbatch, and our verified data set records no oleamide masterbatch concentration or let-down ratio, so the let-down follows from the target ppm in the finished film.

What Is Oleamide Used For? 5 Uses in Plastics#

Oleamide is used for 5 jobs in plastics: slip in blown polyethylene film, slip in bags and liners, the active ingredient of slip masterbatch, internal lubrication in moulding compounds and mould release above 0.5 wt%. The 5 uses are listed below in order of the volume that passes through each.

• Slip in blown polyethylene film, where 500 to 1,200 ppm brings the film-to-film COF to the converter's target.
• Slip in bags, liners and sacks, where a low COF lets the bag open on an automatic filling line.
• Active ingredient of slip masterbatch, the concentrate through which most film plants dose the amide.
• Internal lubricant in moulding compounds, where the amide reduces friction inside the melt.
• Mould release above 0.5 wt%, the level at which Struktol positions its TR 121 grade.

Slip is one of 8 functions in the package described under additives for packaging film, and the first two uses account for most of the oleamide consumed in plastics.

Bags, liners and blown film#

Bags and liners are the largest oleamide application, because a low film-to-film COF is what lets a bag open on an automatic filling line. A converter who cannot open the bag cannot fill it, and the amide moves the COF into the machine's working window without a resin change. The same surface layer also helps the web run over the collar and the sealing bars.

Excess slip carries a cost at the next station: too much amide at the surface hinders corona treatment and impairs printability and sealability, so the dosage is set by the lowest COF the converter needs and not by the highest the formulation allows. Bag and liner grades follow the formulation guide for additives for polyethylene (PE), where the slip level is fixed together with the antiblock, the processing aid, the antistat and the antifog rather than on its own.

Mould release and internal lubrication#

Above about 0.5 wt%, oleamide stops acting as a film slip and starts acting as a mould release and internal lubricant, which is how Struktol positions its TR 121 grade. That data sheet lists the grade as slip agent, lubricant, dispersant and mould release agent, so the function follows the dose. Above 0.5 wt% oleamide behaves like the internal mold release agents for plastics, reaching the tool interface instead of staying in the melt.

The US regulatory category does not follow the technical one. FDA regulates fatty amides as release agents in polymeric resins under 21 CFR 178.3860, and that section names erucamide, oleyl palmitamide, stearyl erucamide and the saturated fatty acid amides, not oleamide.

How Is Oleamide Slip Performance Measured? COF, Blocking and Analysis#

Oleamide performance is measured as the coefficient of friction of the finished film under ASTM D1894-24 or ISO 8295, not as a property of the additive itself. ASTM D1894-24 covers the static and kinetic COF of film and sheeting and gives the same values whether the sled or the plane moves; ISO 8295 covers the dynamic COF. Why does the test date matter?

ASTM D1894-24 answers that question inside its own text: slip additives bloom to the surface, so friction results depend on the time after production. Set against the 24 to 48 hour and 7 to 10 day bloom window of the fatty amide slips, that note turns conditioning into part of the method. ASTM D1894 and ASTM D3354 are explained on coefficient of friction and blocking of plastic film.

Blocking is a separate indicator. ASTM D3354-21 reports the blocking load needed to separate 100 cm2 of film contact, up to a maximum of 200 g, and is similar to ISO 11502 Method B. Amide content is the third indicator, measured on the compound rather than on the surface: ASTM D6953-18 determines amide slip agents in polyethylene and ASTM D6042-23 in polypropylene, both by liquid chromatography with UV detection at 200 nm and a limit of detection around 2 ppm, with erucamide as the named analyte. Garrido-López and colleagues, in the Journal of Chromatography A in 2007, published the gas-chromatographic route for oleamide and erucamide after pressurised liquid extraction with isopropanol at 105 °C (221 °F). LC and GC routes for amides are covered under additive analysis and deformulation of plastics. Our verified data set holds no oleamide COF or blocking-load result, so this section names the methods only.

Table T4. How oleamide slip performance is measured.

How Does Oleamide Interact with Antiblock, Antistatic and Other Additives?#

Oleamide never works alone in a film formulation: it shares the surface with an antiblock, an antistat and sometimes an antifog, and each of them changes how much amide actually reaches the outside. The 3 interactions that change slip performance are listed below.

• Adsorption on antiblock particles: synthetic silica adsorbs slip and antistatic additives and retards their migration.
• Competition with migrating antistats for the surface: Ampacet reports that slip and antistat compete for the same few nanometres.
• Migration across layers in coextruded film: an amide dosed into one layer does not stay there.

Adsorption is not only a loss. In polypropylene the amide plus silica pair can lower COF more than either additive alone, because the amide adsorbs onto the antiblock particle and is presented at the surface by it, as published in Polymers in 2023 and measured with erucamide. Silica and diatomaceous earth antiblock additives are trialled at 2,500 to 10,000 ppm and calcium carbonate at 2,500 to 20,000 ppm, an order of magnitude above the slip level.

Coextrusion removes the assumption that a layer keeps its own additive: Sankhe and Hirt (2003) mapped an amide planned at 1 wt% in an LLDPE layer and found it spread almost uniformly across a 50 µm coextrudate. Migrating antistatic agents for plastics compete with slip for that same surface, so raising the antistat without touching the slip still changes the COF.

What Is the Regulatory Status of Oleamide?#

Oleamide is authorised for EU food-contact plastics as FCM substance 335 without a specific migration limit, is not a Substance of Very High Concern, is not restricted under REACH Annex XVII, and is listed in US food-contact rules only for adhesives and for metal-article manufacture, not as a polymer release agent (status 22 September 2026). The matrix below sets out each instrument separately, because the three US sections that name the substance cover three different uses.

Table T5. Regulatory matrix for oleamide, status 22 September 2026.

No fatty amide slip agent appears on the SVHC Candidate List, so the compliance work on this substance sits in the food-contact instruments rather than in the restriction ones. The Proposition 65 cell reads "status being verified" rather than "not listed", because our verified data set holds an empty field, which is not evidence of absence.

Is oleamide REACH registered?#

Yes, but not under its own EC number: the single-constituent substance EC 206-103-9 carries no active REACH registration, while commercial oleamide is registered as "Amides, C18 (unsaturated)", EC 931-801-1, with 15 active registrations, the earliest from 2010. That split matters to a buyer: a REACH statement on a supplier data sheet may cite the multi-constituent identity rather than the CAS number on the specification, so check which EC number the declaration names. Multi-constituent identities like this one are explained under REACH and plastic additives, and the same substance is not a Substance of Very High Concern, does not appear on Annex XIV and is not restricted under Annex XVII of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006.

Is oleamide allowed in food-contact plastics in the EU?#

Yes: oleamide is listed in Annex I of Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 as FCM substance 335 (Ref 68960) with no specific migration limit, so the generic SML of 60 mg/kg and the overall migration limit of 10 mg/dm2 apply. An authorised additive without a specific limit is not an unrestricted additive: the generic 60 mg/kg ceiling of Article 11(2) and the overall migration limit still bind the finished article. The generic SML and the OML are set out on EU 10/2011.

The other primary amides sit in the same position, and the secondary amides do not. Erucamide is FCM 271, stearamide FCM 306 and behenamide FCM 458, all authorised without a specific SML, while oleyl palmitamide (FCM 622) and stearyl erucamide (FCM 587) carry an SML of 5 mg/kg with the fat reduction factor, an entry recorded in the table of specific migration limits (SML) of plastic additives. Our Union list values were read from the text consolidated at 31 December 2020, so re-check FCM 335 against the current EUR-Lex consolidation before citing it in a declaration of compliance.

Is oleamide FDA approved for plastics?#

Oleamide is not named in 21 CFR 178.3860, the section that clears fatty amides as release agents in food-contact polymers, so a supplier statement that oleamide is "FDA approved" for polyolefin film has no section behind it. The two sections that do name it cover different uses: 21 CFR 175.105 covers adhesives, and 21 CFR 178.3910 lists oleic acid amide as a surface lubricant used in the manufacture of metallic articles, which is a foil and sheet rolling clearance rather than a polymer-additive clearance.

The practical consequence for a US food-contact film is a sourcing question. Erucamide, oleyl palmitamide, stearyl erucamide and the saturated fatty acid amides are the amides that 21 CFR 178.3860 names, so ask the supplier which section, food contact notification or threshold-of-regulation exemption the grade relies on. Which 21 CFR section applies to which additive is mapped on FDA food contact rules for plastic additives.

Is oleamide listed under California Proposition 65?#

The Proposition 65 status of oleamide is not established in our verified data set, which holds an empty field rather than a confirmed absence, so this page states no listing status until the current OEHHA list is checked. Carbon black, the antiblock-adjacent additive, is listed for cancer as airborne unbound particles of respirable size since 21 February 2003. Listing dates for every plastics additive are on California Proposition 65.

Is Oleamide Safe? Hazard Classification and Migration#

Oleamide has no harmonised hazard classification under the EU CLP Regulation, and most companies that notified it to ECHA report that it does not meet the GHS criteria, while a minority notify skin, eye and respiratory irritation and about 40 % notify H413 for long-lasting effects on aquatic life. A notifier aggregate is company self-classification and not a legal classification, so two safety data sheets for the same CAS number can disagree without either being wrong. The 3 elements of the published profile are listed below.

• Classification: no harmonised CLP entry, and a notifier aggregate that is mostly "not classified", with minority notifications of H315 (skin irritation), H319 (eye irritation) and H335 (respiratory irritation) and about 40 % notifying H413.
• Migration: an additive chosen because it moves, detected in leachates from plastic containers at nanogram-per-millilitre level, and bounded in the EU by the generic 60 mg/kg SML.
• What is not established: no acute toxicity value, no NOAEL, no exposure assessment and no Proposition 65 status in our verified data set.

Oleamide is not a Substance of Very High Concern and is not listed under the EU POPs Regulation (EU) 2019/1021, the two instruments that drive substitution programmes for film additives. Slip agents appear in the study summary on chemicals migrating from plastic food packaging, where the amides are among the substances most often detected, because migration is their function rather than their failure mode.

Does oleamide migrate out of plastic?#

Yes: oleamide is designed to migrate, and analytical studies find it in what plastic touches, with a 2020 study in Foods reporting 12 to 23 ng/mL in leachates from non-PET baby bottles. The same study reports 21,984 ng/mL in extracts of insulin syringes, a device extract rather than a food simulant, recorded in our our sources rather than in the fact set. Diffusion, partition and simulant choice are covered under additive migration in plastics, and the diffusion that brings the amide to the film surface carries part of it into the contacting medium.

Leachate concentrations in ng/mL are not comparable with a specific migration limit in mg/kg, because the two use different contact conditions, media and reference masses. Compliance is decided by the migration test of Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 against the generic 60 mg/kg SML and the 10 mg/dm2 overall migration limit, not by a research leachate value.

What Are the Alternatives to Oleamide?#

The 5 main alternatives to oleamide are erucamide, stearamide, behenamide, the secondary amides oleyl palmitamide and stearyl erucamide, and the non-migrating silicone slips, and the choice between them is a trade between bloom speed and heat stability. The table below sets the six amides and the silicone class side by side on the criteria that decide a substitution.

Table T6. Oleamide compared with the other slip agents.

Footnote: melting points are PubChem values unless marked as supplier data. Bloom-speed ranking comes from the Ampacet chain-length rule and a supplier comparison, not from a single measured data set.

The full side-by-side sits on erucamide vs oleamide vs behenamide, where they are ranked by application rather than by identity.

Oleamide vs erucamide#

Oleamide is the better choice when the film has to reach its target COF quickly and is processed at moderate temperature; erucamide is the better choice for roll stock, for polypropylene and for anything that has to satisfy 21 CFR 178.3860. Both amides are dosed in the same window, 0.05 to 0.12 wt% (500 to 1,200 ppm), so the decision is about when the COF arrives and how much heat the amide has to survive.

Three differences carry that decision. Erucamide is the C22:1 amide, CAS 112-84-5 at 337.6 g/mol, melting at 75 to 80 °C (167 to 176 °F) and thermally stable to about 240 °C (464 °F) according to supplier data, against oleamide's shorter C18:1 chain. For roll stock the slower erucamide slip agent avoids telescoping, because its COF falls after the reel is wound. In the US food-contact file the gap is categorical: erucamide is named in 21 CFR 178.3860 and oleamide is not, and erucamide carries 36 active REACH registrations against the 15 held under the multi-constituent identity of oleamide.

Oleamide vs stearamide and behenamide#

Stearamide and behenamide are the saturated counterparts of oleamide: the missing double bond raises their melting points to 107 to 109 °C (224.6 to 228.2 °F) and 110 to 113 °C (230 to 235.4 °F) and slows their migration, which turns them from film slips into release and closure additives. Stearamide is the saturated C18 amide, CAS 124-26-5 at 283.5 g/mol, and its melting point sits about 30 °C (54 °F) above oleamide's, so it is chosen where antiblock and release matter more than a low COF.

Behenamide, CAS 3061-75-4 at 339.6 g/mol, is the saturated C22 amide and the slowest migrant of the four primary amides: it needs only 1.7 µg/cm2 at the surface to cut cap application torque in HDPE closures, against 15.7 µg/cm2 for erucamide, as Dulal and colleagues published in 2017. Both are authorised in the EU without a specific SML, as FCM 306 and FCM 458, and both fall under the saturated fatty acid amide entry of 21 CFR 178.3860 that excludes oleamide.

Secondary amides and non-migrating silicone slip#

Secondary amides such as oleyl palmitamide and stearyl erucamide replace oleamide where the melt is too hot for a C18 amide, and they pay for that stability with a specific migration limit of 5 mg/kg instead of oleamide's generic 60 mg/kg. Oleyl palmitamide, CAS 16260-09-6 at 505.9 g/mol, is the secondary amide for extrusion coating and cast film; stearyl erucamide, CAS 10094-45-8 at 590.1 g/mol and stable above 300 °C (572 °F) according to supplier data, is listed in the Union list as octadecylerucamide under FCM 587.

Where no migration is acceptable at all, silicone slip additives replace the amide entirely: ultra-high-molecular-weight PDMS masterbatch and spherical silicone resin beads of refractive index 1.42, supplied from 1.8 to 10.5 µm and stable to 400 °C (752 °F), give a low COF without any surface bloom.

Who Manufactures Oleamide? Grades and Suppliers#

Oleamide is made by four named oleochemical producers, Croda, Nouryon, PMC Biogenix and Fine Organics, and reaches the market under the trade names Crodamide O and OR, Kemamide O, Armoslip CP, Armid O and Unislip 1759. A trade name identifies a grade and not a different substance: each refers to CAS 301-02-0, and the differences lie in amide content, melting range, physical form and handling additives.

Table T7. Oleamide producers and trade names.

The Crodamide and Atmer lines passed into the Croda Performance Technologies and Industrial Chemicals business, of which Cargill acquired the majority in July 2022 for about GBP 667 million, and this page does not assert the current owner of either brand until that transfer is verified. More producers and their locations are in the directory of slip agent and erucamide suppliers. Buyers should ask for the melting range, the amide content and a statement of which food-contact section the grade relies on, because the US food-contact position of this amide is narrower than a generic compliance letter suggests. No price, capacity or market share for oleamide exists in our verified data set.

How Does Oleamide Fit into the Fatty Amide Slip Agent Family?#

Oleamide is the fastest-blooming member of the primary fatty amide slip agents, the class that also contains erucamide, stearamide and behenamide and that sits beside the secondary amides, the bis-amides and the non-migrating silicone slips. The class divides on two structural questions: whether the chain is saturated, which sets the melting point and the migration rate, and how many amide groups it carries, which sets whether it works on a surface or in the melt.

The same amides appear among the processing lubricants for plastics, where the target is the melt rather than the surface, so the boundary between a slip agent and a lubricant is a question of dose rather than of chemistry.

Ethylene bis oleamide (EBO) and the bis-amides#

Ethylene bis oleamide (EBO, CAS 110-31-6) is the bis-amide built from two oleic acid chains and an ethylenediamine bridge, and despite the shared name it behaves nothing like oleamide: it melts at 115 to 125 °C (239 to 257 °F) and migrates slowly from the inside. EBO is a bis-amide of oleic acid, not a dimer of oleamide. At 589.0 g/mol and stable above 280 °C (536 °F) according to supplier data, ethylene bis oleamide works as a slow internal slip, antiblock and lubricant, is authorised in the EU as FCM 251 without a specific SML, and is cleared in 21 CFR 178.3860 only in PVC film at a maximum of 0.055 mg per square inch. Ethylene bis stearamide (EBS) is the saturated bis-amide, CAS 110-30-5, melting at 135 to 146 °C (275 to 294.8 °F) and listed as FCM 250, a lubricant and release agent rather than a film slip.

Oleamide outside plastics#

The oleamide discussed on this page is the same molecule, CAS 301-02-0, that biomedical researchers study as an endogenous fatty acid amide, which is why analytical chemists track how much of it leaches from plastic containers and labware. The research literature describes it as a sleep-inducing lipid and a CB1 agonist, and that biological activity is the reason its migration from plastic devices attracts attention in analytical chemistry rather than in additive engineering. This reference covers oleamide as a plastics additive only; its biological literature and its consumer uses are outside our scope, and no dose, benefit or safety statement for either is given anywhere on this page.

Is the oleamide sold as a supplement the same substance?#

Yes, the CAS number is the same, 301-02-0, but the grades are not: material sold for plastics is specified on melting range and amide content for extrusion, not for ingestion. Search results for the bare substance name mix the two markets, which is why the distinction is stated here rather than left to the reader.

Does oleamide need an SDS?#

Yes: suppliers provide a safety data sheet for oleamide as for any traded chemical, and the hazard section varies between suppliers because oleamide has no harmonised CLP classification. Compare the classification block of the specific supplier's sheet rather than assuming that two sheets for CAS 301-02-0 agree.