Patent ID: 8227399

Claim:
A polyglycerol partial ester having the structure of Formula (I) wherein R 1 , R 2 and R 3 , independent from each other, equal or different, are selected from the group consisting of: —OH, —OR 4 , where R 4 is a linear, unsubstituted acyl radical with a chain length of from 16 to 22 carbon atoms with the proviso that the monocarboxylic acids obtained from the acyl radical by saponification bears an iodine value of smaller than 50, and —OR 5 , where R 5 is a radical having the structure of Formula (I) wherein one of R 1 , R 2 and R 3 being a direct bond to the oxygen of —OR 5 wherein each molecule of the polyglycerol partial ester comprises at least one of each —OR 4 and —OR 5 , with the provisos that the polyglycerol obtained by hydrolysis or alcoholysis of the polyglycerol partial ester comprises an average degree of polymerization of from 2 to 8 and the polydispersity index of said polyglycerol is greater than 0.75, wherein said polydispersity index is calculated as ∑ i ⁢ ⁢  n i - 〈 n 〉  · x i , where n i , is the degree of polymerization of a single oligomer i, <n>is an average degree of polymerization of a polyglycerol mixture, and x i , is a proportion of the single oligomer i in the polyglycerol mixture.