Vegetable resins

The chemical composition of the natural resins is very diverse, and their molecular structure may be highly complex most resins of vegetable origin, however, are chemically related to the carbohydrates. Dry vegetable resins... 

From a chemical point of view, vegetable resins are a complex mixture of mono-, sesqui-, di- and triterpenes, which have, respectively, 10, 15, 20 and 30 carbon atoms per molecule. The mono- and sesquiterpenes are both present in most resins. The di- and triterpenes are rarely found together in the same resin, which means that terpenic resins can be divided into two main classes. Table 1.5 lists the botanical origin and the kind of terpenoid compounds of some natural resins. 

A primary source of environmental pollution from printing ink comes from the metal-based pigments used, as well as various resins, waxes, and drying agents that are also part of the inks. These materials are added to inks regardless of the source of the oil. As a result, petroleum inks are just as suitable for landfill disposal under U.S. EPA regulations as are vegetable oil inks. 

To improve processing and to plasticize the mbber compound, numerous processing agents have been used over the years, eg, petroleum and ester plasticizers, resins and tars, Hquid mbber peptizers, peptizers, fatty acids and derivatives from vegetable oils, and polyethylene and hydrocarbon waxes. 

Other processing aids utilized in tires are vegetable oils (fatty acids, fatty acid esters/alcohols, and metal salts of these oils), naturally occurring resins such as pine tar, hydrocarbon resins from petroleum stUlbottoms, and vulcanized vegetable oils (WOs). WOs were utilized heavily in the early 1900s, but are no longer used extensively in tires. 

Nonfood Uses. Vegetable oils are utilized in a variety of nonedible applications, but only a few percent of the U.S. soybean oil production is used for such products (see Table 13). Soybean oil is converted into alkyd resins (qv) for protective coatings, plasticizers, dimer acids, surfactants (qv), printing inks, SoyDiesel fuel (methyl esters used to replace petroleum-based diesel fuel) and other products (76). 

Vatty Acids andFattyAcidLsters. Sulfolane exhibits selective solvency for fatty acids and fatty acid esters which depends on the molecular weight and degree of fatty acid unsaturation (40—42). AppHcations for this process are enriching the unsaturation level in animal and vegetable fatty oHs to provide products with better properties for use in paint, synthetic resins, food products, plastics, and soaps. 

Tall oil [8002-26-4] has been referred to as the largest and fastest growing source of extractives such as turpentine and resin. It can be refined to give tall oil fatty acids (see Carboxylic acids) and tall oil pitch as well as resins. These fatty acids compete with fatty acids from vegetable sources for many of the same industrial markets. 

The most important coating appHcation for the nonreactive polyamide resins is in producing thixotropy. Typical coating resins such as alkyds, modified alkyds, natural and synthetic ester oils, varnishes, and natural vegetable oils can be made thixotropic by the addition of dimer acid-based polyamide resins (see Alkyd resins). Specialty high performance coating appHcations often requite the properties imparted by dimer acid components. 

Polyamides provide RT cure of epoxy-terrninated resins as weU as flexibiHzation they are derived by reaction of dimerized vegetable oil fatty acids (dimer acids) with polyamines. 

Cellulose is the most abundant of naturally occurring organic compounds for, as the chief constituent of the eell walls of higher plants, it comprises at least one-third of the vegetable matter of the world. The cellulose eontent of such vegetable matter varies from plant to plant. For example, oven-dried cotton contains about 90% cellulose, while an average wood has about 50%. The balance is composed of lignin, polysaccharides other than cellulose and minor amounts of resins, proteins and mineral matter. In spite of its wide distribution in nature, cellulose for chemical purposes is derived commerically from only two sources, cotton linters and wood pulp. 

Resins can be divided into natural and synthetic types. Natural resins have a vegetable or animal origin. Typical examples are rosins. Synthetic resins result from controlled chemical reactions, and can be divided into two subgroups. 

More recently, a modification of the system described by Kreibich has been used extensively in industry with good success. Part A of the adhesive is again a standard phenol-resorcinol-formaldehyde (PRF) cold-setting adhesive, with powder hardener added at its standard pH. Part B can be either the same PRF adhesive with no hardener and the pH adjusted to 12, or a 50 to 55% tannin extract solution at a pH of 12-13, provided that the tannin is of the condensed or flavonoid type, such as mimosa, quebracho, or pine bark extract, with no hardener [118,135-137], The results obtained with these two systems are good and the resin not only has all the advantages desired but also the use of vegetable tannins and the halving of the resorcinol content makes the system considerably cheaper [118,135-137]. 

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