Julia Glasmann (asker) Jan 14, 2015:

Thanks Rainer, it is really helpful to have a chemist's point of view on this!

rainerc (X) Jan 14, 2015:

Trivial names and IUPAC nomenclature As an organic chemist, I was taught early on by my excellent lecturers the importance of naming organic compounds. As you can see on chemicalregister.com, there are numerous ways of naming one and the same compound. Historical 'trivial' names have a habit of sticking around for over a century, mainly because they are so much shorter than the IUPAC names. This and the fact that the thesis comes form the department of pharmacy, where less emphasis is placed on nomenclature, could be the reason why the Ph.D. student chose the trivial name. And it's perfectly valid, so I don't think you need a translator's note.

EK Yokohama Jan 13, 2015:

One reason that this term does not appear online might be that ... ... most publications in chemistry are in English already, so the German equivalent will not turn up online. But this is just a guess.
Only a thesis might still have to be written in German (or at least that was the case when the one you are translating was written in 1999), so there you are. But I have no idea, just guessing.

Julia Glasmann (asker) Jan 13, 2015:

That is impressive indeed! And also helpful for my general understanding - thanks Andrew :)

Do you (or somebody else with a bit of a chemical background) believe that "Triricinolylester", as used by the author, is a valid term, or rather a neologism created by the author? I think "glycerol triricinoleate (ester)" is a good translation, but am trying to decide whether I should leave a translator's note or not…

Any input is greatly appreciated!

EK Yokohama Jan 13, 2015:

And Phil Goddard's (and Google's) suggestion ... ... was correct, too. Because your link (http://www.chemicalregister.com/Glycerol_Triricinoleate/Supp... says:
"Glycerol Triricinoleate ...
Synonyms: Triricinolein"
Google seems to be brighter than I had ever imagined...

EK Yokohama Jan 13, 2015:

Impressive, Andrew! I remember that we ... ... talked about esters in 12th grade (and of course in German) but had completely forgotten about it.
And of course, I realise that this patent hasn't been translated by someone knowledgeable in chemistry.
It does not claim to be perfect but says:
"BESCHREIBUNG übersetzt aus folgender Sprache: Deutsch (OCR-Text kann Fehler enthalten)"
Anyway, that Julia can now impress her client with this is wonderful. Thank you.
Well done! Good night (3:43 am here now...)

Lancashireman Jan 13, 2015:

And don't trust any website which includes 'patents' in its title.

EK Yokohama Jan 13, 2015:

And please do not trust google ... ... , I would just trust your initial intuition if I were you.

Cilian O'Tuama Jan 13, 2015:

looks to me like Phil would like to take this one and run

EK Yokohama Jan 13, 2015:

"tri-ricinolyl ester" might be absolutely correct. I found all three parts of "tri-ricinolyl ester" in one document, but only separately:

"C) esters of di-, tri and / or tetrahydric aliphatic alcohols containing 2 to 22 carbon atoms and aliphatic monocarboxylic acids having ¬ 2 to 22 carbon atoms as smoothing agents in combing oils for the production of combed slivers of wool."
"As the aliphatic onofunktionelle alcohols may be saturated and / or unsaturated, and branched and / or unbranched alcohols having 1 to 22 carbon atoms, such as methanol ¬ nol, ethanol, butanol, propanol, hexanol, octanol, pelargonyl, capric alcohol, lauryl alcohol, n-and Isopentade - decanol, palmityl, stearyl alcohol, Behenyalkohol, oleyl alcohol, ricinolyl and / or linolenyl be used."
"Special compounds having setting point above 25 °C selected from the group of the dialkyl ethers and/or carboxylic acid esters are used as smoothing agents in combing oils for the production of wool combed slivers."
(Source: http://www.google.es/patents/WO1992019805A1?cl=en)

At least in my opinion, you should just leave it as it is.
Your client should ask a specialist with a chemical background or else be content with what common sense can achieve.

Julia Glasmann (asker) Jan 13, 2015:

I received the same Google result and did some research on it. Unfortunately I do not have enough of a chemical background to make that call. If the author indeed meant "Triricinolein", why did he not write that? And could "Triricinolyl" simply be a different (apparently less common) term for "Triricinolein"?

philgoddard Jan 13, 2015:

Google says "did you mean triricinolein". Could that be the answer?