Dyera

An alternative chewing gum base is obtained from jelutong, a mixture of polyisoprene and resin obtained from latex of the Dyera costulata. This tree is found in many countries but Borneo is the principal commercial source. At one time jelutong was an important rubber substitute and 40000 tons were produeed in 1910. Production in recent years has been of the order of 5000 tons per annum, mainly for chewing gum. 

The Indo-Pacific rain forest is the mother ground of the banana Musa spp.), mango (Mangifera indica), chewing gum (fi-om Dyera costulata), and many spices (Table 13.1).With the advent of freezers, the spices have lost much importance as food preservatives, but their culinary role remains, albeit undermined by the fest food industry. Spices span a large variety of stmctures, from small isoprenoids to shikimates. 

Common names dyera tree or jelutong. The latex is used in the manufacture of chewing gum. 

Dyera costulata Hook. F. and Dyera lowii Hook. F. 

This is the other natural rubber used in making chewing gum. It is produced from the sap of Dyera costulata of the genus apocyanesas. This tree grows in the Far East. The crude product is processed by a system involving the injection of steam into the raw material. 

Dryobalanops sp./Kapur Dyera sp./Jelutong Eugenia sp./Kelat Michelia sp./Champaka Quercus sp./Borneo oak Shorea sp./Balau ... 

Constit. of latex of Dyera lowii and in the leaves of Anodendron affine. Also from Nerium oleander, Trachelospermum jasminoides and other plants. Latex used for manuf of chewing gum. Allergy inhibitor. Cryst. (EtOH) with sweet taste. Mp 210°. Exhibits polymorphism. Opt. inactive (meso-). 

Two monomethyl ethers of m /o-inositol are known bornesitol 37), m.p. 199°, from Borneo rubber and opepe Sacrocephalus diderrichii) wood (S7a), and sequoyitol 11, 38), m.p. 234-235°, from California redwood. Sequoyitol, a meso compound, is 5-0-methyl-w2/o-inositol 39). Bornesitol is optically active. A dimethyl ether, dambonitol, m.p. 195°, is found in the latex of Gabon 40) and other rubbers and in the latex of the Dyera tree 41)- It has been shown to be 1,3-di-0-methyl-m2/o-inositol 41a)-... 

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