Benzoin Family

Styracece or Benzoin Family.—Shrubs or low trees. Leaves alternate to opposite, entire, often- acuminate. Flowers hermaphrodite, regular, rarely sub-irregular, either in condensed fascicles or solitary in the.axils of the leaves sepals and petals typically five each corolla often white, rarely pinkish or yellowish stamens many to four to two, perigynous or sub-h5 ogynous pistil bicarpellary or four to five carpellate. Fruit either fleshy or dry, often winged and rarely as many-celled as there are carpels. 

Styrax benzoin (family Styracaceae) Commonly known as styrax and distributed in the tropics, particularly in Indonesia, Indo-China and Thailand. The oil is used in perfumes, as an aromatic for lemonades, in baking and chewing gum. 

Benzoic acid [65-85-0] C H COOH, the simplest member of the aromatic carboxyHc acid family, was first described in 1618 by a French physician, but it was not until 1832 that its stmcture was deterrnined by Wn b1er and Liebig. In the nineteenth century benzoic acid was used extensively as a medicinal substance and was prepared from gum benzoin. Benzoic acid was first produced synthetically by the hydrolysis of benzotrichloride. Various other processes such as the nitric acid oxidation of toluene were used until the 1930s when the decarboxylation of phthaUc acid became the dominant commercial process. During World War II in Germany the batchwise Hquid-phase air oxidation of toluene became an important process. 

Benzoe resin (also known as benzoin) comes from Styrax spp. (Styraceae family). In the Sty rax genus the only species that occurs in the Mediterranean is Styrax officinalis, so this was probably the source of the resin in ancient times in that area. Benzoe mainly contains free cinnamic and benzoic acids, and their corresponding esters with cinnamyl, p-coumaryl and coniferyl alcohols. The amounts of these compounds are quite variable and depend on which species the resin was obtained from [129]. 

The Styracaceae family does not produce an essential oil but a solid gum r ij)t(ftjl PTre5in) called benzoin. The resinous solid needs to be melted before use. Commercially benzoin is sold as the solid dissolved in a suitable solvent. 

The leaves, stems, and roots of most species in the laurel family are aromatic. The leaves are typically alternate, rather than opposite, to one another on the stem. The leaves are simple in that they consist of a single blade. The California laurel (JJmbellularia californica) and most tropical species in the Lauraceae have persistent leaves, which remain attached to the plant after they are no longer functional. Other species such as sassafras (Sassafras albidum) and spice bush (Lindera benzoin) have seasonally deciduous leaves, which fall off in the autumn, after they become nonfunctional. 

Benzoic acid (ben-ZO-ik AS-id) is the simplest of the aromatic carboxylic acids, a family of organic compounds containing the carboxyl (-COOH) group. It occurs in the form of white crystalline needles or thin plates. Many naturally occurring plants contain benzoic acid, including most types of berries and the natural product called gum benzoin, a plant common to the islands of lava, Sumatra, and Borneo. Gum benzoin may contain up to 20 percent benzoic acid. Benzoic acid is also excreted by most animals (except fowl) in the form of a related compound called hippuric acid (C6H5CONHCH2COOH). 

Dumas, working with the French apothecary Pierre Francois Guillaume Boullay, first proposed that the ethylene group (a two-carbon chain) could serve as the radical base for alcohol and related compounds. The concept of radicals received further support when Liebig and Wohler published their work on oil of bitter almonds. They found a family of compounds— benzoic acid, benzoin, benzaldehyde, benzoyl chloride, benzoyl bromide, benzoyl iodide, benzoyl cyanide, benzoyl... 

An extensive family of thiazolylidene NHCs have been prepared and tested as catalysts of cross-benzoin and other transformations (homo-benzoin, cross-acyloin, and intramolecular hydroacylation), allowing extensive consideration of the steric and electronic effects involved in varying the catalyst. ... 

In this case, the benzoyl radical and a methyl radical produced through the fragmentation of a,a-dimethoxy benzyl radical both initiate pol5unerization. Other families include benzoin ethers, acetophenone derivatives, amino ketones, and phosphine oxide derivatives (1 ) (3,11). 

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