Resins storax

Storax resin is extracted from Liquidambar orientalis (Hammamelidiaceae) and Altingia and its major components are cinnamyl cinnamate and 3-phenylpropanyl cinnamate, with significant amounts of benzoic and cinnamic acids, and 3-phenylpropanol and cinnamyl alcohols [130,131]. The volatile content is very low and triterpenes (oleanonic and 3-epioleanolic acids and liquid ambronovic acid) have also been observed [130,132]. 

In 1839, Eduard Simon, an apothecary in Berlin, distilled storax resin obtained from the Tree of Turkey , (liquid ambar orientalis) with a sodium carbonate solution and obtained an oil which he analysed and named styrol (what we now call styrene) [1]. He recorded the following observation that with old oil the residue which cannot be vaporised without decomposition is greater than with fresh oil, undoubtedly due to a steady conversion of the oil by air, light and heat to a rubberlike substance . Simon believed he had oxidised the material and called the product styrol oxide. Later, when he realised that it contained no oxygen, the product became known as metastyrol. This puzzled the early chemists as there was no change in empirical formula despite the very pronounced alteration in chemical and physical properties. Unknowingly, this was the first recorded instance of polymerization. 

Synonyms Styrax benzoin Storax Sweet oriental gum balsam Storax Asiatic styrax gum styrax honduras gum styrax Honduras white Styrax American clarified Styrax Styrax gum Styrax oleoresin Styrax resin Styrax resinoid Styrax balsam Liquidambary styrox Styrax extract Storax extract Liquidambar spp. resinoid Storax resinoid Storax resin... 

Tree saps have played an important role in human culture. Styrene was discovered by heating Storax resin, and polystyrene was discovered by letting styrene sit undisturbed for a few months. Polystyrene has played a central role in the intellectual development of polymer science, but it did not become a commercial material until after the time period of this treatise. 

An earlier citation in William Nicholson s A Dictionary of Practical and Theoretical Chemistry of 1808 describes experiments by Neuman where he subjected Storax resin to steam distillation and obtained an empyreumatic oil [20]. The first person to name the oil was E. Simon in 1839 he called it styrol [21]. Careful elemental analysis of this substance by G. Gerhardt and A. Cahours in 1841 yielded the empirical formula CH [22]. Vapor density measurements, a standard in the land of Regnault and Dumas, yielded the correct molecular formula CgHg. Extensive physical measurements on styrol by E. Kopp in 1845 yielded its boiling point(144 C), and its specific gravity (0.928). Chemical analysis with bromine revealed a single aliphatic double bond [23]. 

In 1786 William Nieholson wrote A Dictionary of Practical and Theoretical Chemistry. In this work Nicholson mentions that a chemist named Neuman, on distillation of storax (a balsam derived from the tree Liquambar orientalis), had produced a fragrant empyreumatic oil . In 1839 E. Simon carried out some similar experiments, apparently quite independently, and again obtained this essential oil which he ealled styrol. In 1845 M. Glenard and R. Boudault reported on the production of styrol (now known as styrene) by dry distillation of dragons blood, a resin obtained from the fruit of the Malayan rattan palm. 

Phenolic resins are mainly composed of aromatic esters benzoe and storax were the most common in the Mediterranean [86]. 

Anothei fragrant oleoresin is storax. obtained from Uquidambar orientalis. a medium-sized tree growing in southwestern Asia. The resin is obtained by boiling the bark and wood of young branches. Il is used medicinally and also in incense. 

St3rrene, Phenyl Ethylene.— The first of these hydrocarbons is known as st3rrene. It is obtained from storax a resin found in the plant, Styrax officinalis. It is also present in coal tar. It is related to, and also prepared from, cinnamic acid, an important acid to be considered later. Styrene is a liquid boiling at 140 . Its constitution is proven by its synthesis from benzene and ethylene when a mixture of the two compounds is passed through a red hot tube. 

Benzyl Alcohol.—The simplest aromatic alcohol is the hydroxyl derivative of toluene and is known as benzyl alcohol, CeHs—CH2—OH. The radical, (CeHs—CH2—), is termed benzyl as in the alcohol and chloride above. The alcohol occurs as an ester in Peru balsam, in storax, a resin obtained from a plant sty rax, and in Tolu balsam from which the mother hydrocarbon toluene derives its name. On hydrolysis of the balsam benzyl alcohol is obtained. It is a liquid, b.p. 206.5°, slightly soluble in water and soluble in alcohol or ether. It may be prepared by those syntheses just given which yield primary alcohols. It may also be prepared by the reduction of the corresponding aldehyde, known as benzoic aldehyde or benzaldehyde (p. 655). On oxidation it yields the aldehyde and then an acid, benzoic acid. 

Which of the two is the cis form and which the trans form has not been determined. A third cinnamic acid, viz., iso-cinnamic acid, is also known, but the constitution of it has not been established. Cinnamic acid is found in nature in the resin storax both as the free acid and as the cinnamic alcohol ester, styrin. It is also found in Peru and Tolu balsams as the free acid and as the benzyl alcohol ester, the benzoic acid ester of benzyl alcohol being present also. Thus benzyl alcohol, benzoic acid, cinnamic alcohol and cinnamic acid are all constituents of esters present in these plant resins. Allo-cinnamic acid, the geometric isomer, is obtained from coca leaves from which the alkaloid cocaine is also obtained (p. 896). When cinnamic acid is heated with lime it loses carbon dioxide and yields the unsaturated side-chain hydrocarbon st3rrene, or phenyl ethylene, CeHs—CH = CH2. On reduction it yields first cinnamic aldehyde, found in oil of cinnamon (p. 842) and then cinnamic alcohol. Both cinnamic acid and allo-cinnamic acid yield anhydrides. 

There are a few minor wood-based chemical industries. After chestnut blight wiped out the American chestnut, U.S. tannin production essentially ceased. The main natural tannins, watde and quebracho, are now imported. High U.S. labor costs and the advent of synthetic tannins make re-establishment of a U.S. tannin industry unlikely. Tannins are used in oil-weU drilling muds. Tree exudates are a continuing wood-based chemical industry. Tree exudates include mbber, tme carbohydrate gums (eg, acacia gum), kinos (eg, the phenolic exudates from eucalyptus), balsams (eg, Storax from l iquidambar spp.), and many different types of oleoresins (mixtures of a soHd resin and a liquid essential oil). The most important oleoresin stiU collected in the United States is pine gum (rosin plus turpentine). 

Soluble indigo A blue oigtnent, ammonium aulohate and/or potassium sulphate,storax A resin derived from various trees of the genus styrax, especially... 

Styrax calamtta A small shrub or tree of Asia Minor yielding a resin simitar to storax.and used in medicine. 

Simon in 1839 named the distillate of Storax officinalis a styrol. By 1845, the thermal polymerization of styrene as well as the thermal depolymerization of PS were known. In 1915 I. G. Farbenindustrie started commercial production of PS, Trolitul . Until the 1950 s, PS was produced in small quantities — the resin was brittle, thermally unstable, with poor solvent and scratch resistance. The main use of styrene was in the manufacture of styrenics, viz. Buna-S, SBR, or ABS. 

The N. r. include benzoin gum, Canada balsam, China or Japan lacquers, dammar resin, amber, labda-num, mastic, incense, sandarac, and storax. 

Occurs as free acid and as esters in storax, Peruvian balsam and other resins. Monoelinic, colourless cryst. M.p. 133°. B.p. 300°. Sol. 

Storax, a liquid resin of the Liquidamhar orientalis tree, was known at a very early date and exported by the Arabs to India and China. J. F. Bonastre, who was an expert on essential oils, obtained from it styracin, which is cinnamyl cinnamate CQHg-CgHyOg, the earliest aromatic ester known and by distilling storax he obtained a volatile oil, which E. Simon concluded was a hydro-... 

Balsam bol-s3m [L balsamum, fr. Gk bal-samon, prob. of Semitic origin akin to Hebrew basham balsam] (before 12c) n. Oleoresinous exudations from plants, which are characterized by softness or a semi liquid consistency. They consist of mixtures of resin, essential oils, and other compounds. Typical balsams are Canada, gurjun, Peru, tolu, and storax balsams. Merriam-Webster s collegiate dictionary, 11th edn. Merriam-Webster Inc., Spring-field, MA, 2004. 

The oleo-resinous substance obtained from the bark of the tree Liquid dambar orientale, a plant found chiefly in Asia Minor, constitutes the liquid storax of commerce. 

American storax and Levant storax are reported to contain similar constituents in highly variable concentrations, including free cinnamic acid (5-15%), 5-10% styracin (cinna-myl cinnamate), about 10% phenylpropyl cinnamate, a resin (storesin) consisting of triterpenic acids (oleanolic and 3-epioleanolic acids) and their cinnamic acid esters, and a volatile oil. The volatile oil present in Levant storax is usually less than 1%, but that in American storax has been reported to range from less than 7% to over 20% (arctander ... 

In a study to evaluate the antioxidant activity of a number of gums, resins, and pigments, storax was among those that protected human LDL against copper-induced oxidation in vitro. ... 

Andrew lire s Dictionary of Chemistry and Minerology of 1831 lists Storax as the resinous exudate of the Sweetgum (Liquidambar) tree [19]. The sweet fragrance is due to cinnamic acid. When pure cinnamic acid is heated in a steam distillation it readily decarboxylates to yield styrene. 

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