Sulfur balsam

Traditionally, formulations contained silver sulforesinates as the source of silver. These were typically prepared via the reaction of silver nitrate or carbonate with a sulfur balsam such as Venice turpentine to form deep brown materials, as observed for the analogous gold systems [51]. Although these silver sulforesinate systems gave adequate results in terms of decorative effect, problems with shelf-life stability, reproducibility, and the limited solubility range of these materials led to the search for alternative silver precursors. 

Properties Water-wh. liq., faint aromatic odor, sharp burning taste misc. with alcohol, chloroform, ether, water 206 C (dec.) m.w. 108.15 sp.gr. 1.042 vapor pressure 1 mm Hg (58 C) m.p. -15.3 C b.p. 205.7 C flash pt. (CC) 93 C ref. index 1.540 Toxicology LD50 (oral, rat) 1230 mg/kg, (IP, rat) 400 mg/kg. (skin, rabbit) 2000 mg/kg poison by ing., IP, IV routes mod. toxic by inh., skin contact mod. skin and severe eye irritant may cross-react with balsam Peru in sensitive persons TSCA listed Precaution Combustible liq. incompat. with oxidizers (increased fire and explosion risk), acids (exothermic polymerization), sulfuric acid Hazardous Decomp. Prods. Dec. explosively at 180 C with sulfuric acid ... 

The lower fatty acid most frequently bound in esters is acetic acid, while formic, propionic, butyric and isobutyric adds occur less often. The common alcohol bound in esters is ethanol. However, esters of methanol, aUyl alcohol, butan-l-ol higher alcohols and very often esters of monoterpenic and aromatic alcohols also occur in foods, and esters of sulfur-containing alcohols are also common. Esters of low molecular weight acids and alcohols usually have a fruity odour esters of terpenic alcohols with low molecular weight adds tend to have fragrant odours resembling flowers. Esters of aromatic adds and aromatic alcohols generally have heavy balsamic odours. 

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