Copaiba

Last updated
Copaifera langsdorffii in a park in Sao Paulo, Brazil Copaicaaclimacao.JPG
Copaifera langsdorffii in a park in São Paulo, Brazil

Copaiba is an oleoresin obtained from the trunk of several pinnate-leaved South American leguminous trees (genus Copaifera ). The thick, transparent exudate varies in color from light gold to dark brown, depending on the ratio of resin to essential oil. Copaiba is used in making varnishes and lacquers.

Contents

The balsam may be steam distilled to give copaiba oil, a colorless to light yellow liquid with the characteristic odor of the balsam and an aromatic, slightly bitter, pungent taste. The oil consists primarily of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons; its main component is β-caryophyllene. [1] The oil also contains significant amounts of α-bergamotene, α-copaene, and β-bisabolene. [2] It is also the primary source of copalic acid. [3]

Copaiba is also a common name for several species of trees of the legume family native to Tropical Africa and North and South America.

Uses

CopaibaOleoresin.png
Copaiba oleoresin (non-fractionated)
CopaibaEssentialOil.png
Copaiba essential oil (fractionated)
Dermatitis reaction to copaiba, lower right Fox Plate XIV.jpg
Dermatitis reaction to copaiba, lower right

Copaiba is particularly interesting as a source of biodiesel, because of the high yield of 12,000 L/ha (1,300 US gal/acre). The resin is tapped from standing trees, with an individual tree yielding 40 L (11 US gal) per year. [4] [5]

Copaiba oil-resins extracted have been used in folk medicine dating back to the 16th century by the natives of north and northeastern Brazil. The folk remedies were administered orally or used as an ointment in the treatment of various diseases. [6] In Panama, the Yaviza people mix the resin with honey and give it to newborns to impart knowledge and ward off hexes. [7] Within the Peruvian Amazon near Iquitos, it is also used as an insect repellent [8] . The balsam and its oil are used as fixatives in soap perfumes and fragrances. [1]

Copaiba is also used as an artist material [9] , especially in oil paint recipes and in ceramic decoration. Mineral painters use a medium made of copaiba, turpentine and lavender to mix with their minerals for adhesion to ceramic vessels before kiln firing [10] . Copaiba makes a good medium for oils and helps with both adhesion and quality of shine.

Industry and commerce

The production of copaiba oil is socially significant to the Amazon because it represents approximately 95% of Brazil's oil-resin production industry. The Annual production of copaiba oil in the Amazon is estimated to be 500 tons/year. [11] The commercialization of copaiba as an oil or in capsule form has grown because of demand by traditional and widespread use, and is exported to other countries, including the United States, France, and Germany. [12]

The Food and Chemicals Codex lists copaiba oil as safe as a flavoring agent for foods. [13] Copaiba oil has both an acute oral and dermal LD50 exceeding 5 g/kg, [14] which classifies it as non-toxic. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Resin</span> Solid or highly viscous substance

In polymer chemistry and materials science, a resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses mainly on naturally occurring resins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Essential oil</span> Hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants

An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the oil of the plant from which they were extracted, such as oil of clove. An essential oil is essential in the sense that it contains the essence of the plant's fragrance—the characteristic fragrance of the plant from which it is derived. The term "essential" used here does not mean indispensable or usable by the human body, as with the terms essential amino acid or essential fatty acid, which are so called because they are nutritionally required by a living organism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balsam</span> Index of plants with the same common name

Balsam is the resinous exudate which forms on certain kinds of trees and shrubs. Balsam owes its name to the biblical Balm of Gilead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada balsam</span> Turpentine made from the resin of the balsam fir tree

Canada balsam, also called Canada turpentine or balsam of fir, is the oleoresin of the balsam fir tree of boreal North America. The resin, dissolved in essential oils, is a viscous, sticky, colourless or yellowish liquid that turns to a transparent yellowish mass when the essential oils have been allowed to evaporate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Absolute (perfumery)</span>

Used in perfumery and aromatherapy, absolutes are similar to essential oils. They are concentrated, highly aromatic, oily mixtures extracted from plants. Whereas essential oils are produced by distillation, boiling, or pressing, absolutes are produced through solvent extraction, or more traditionally, through enfleurage.

Canarium luzonicum, commonly known as elemi, is a tree native to the Philippines. The oleoresin harvested from it is also known as elemi.

Oleoresins are semi-solid extracts composed of resin and essential or fatty oil, obtained by evaporation of the solvents used for their production. The oleoresin of conifers is known as crude turpentine or gum turpentine, which consists of oil of turpentine and rosin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galbanum</span> Gum resin

Galbanum is an aromatic gum resin and a product of certain umbelliferous Persian plant species in the genus Ferula, chiefly Ferula gummosa and Ferula rubricaulis. Galbanum-yielding plants grow plentifully on the slopes of the mountain ranges of northern Iran. It occurs usually in hard or soft, irregular, more or less translucent and shining lumps, or occasionally in separate tears, of a light-brown, yellowish or greenish-yellow colour. Galbanum has a disagreeable, bitter taste, a peculiar, a somewhat musky odour, and an intense green scent. With a specific gravity of 1.212, it contains about 8% terpenes; about 65% of a resin which contains sulfur; about 20% gum; and a very small quantity of the colorless crystalline substance umbelliferone. It also contains α-pinene, β-pinene, limonene, cadinene, 3-carene, and ocimene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myrcene</span> Chemical compound

Myrcene, or β-myrcene, is a monoterpene. A colorless oil, it occurs widely in essential oils. It is produced mainly semi-synthetically from Myrcia, from which it gets its name. It is an intermediate in the production of several fragrances. α-Myrcene is the name for the isomer 2-methyl-6-methylene-1,7-octadiene, which has not been found in nature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caryophyllene</span> Chemical compound

Caryophyllene, more formally (−)-β-caryophyllene (BCP), is a natural bicyclic sesquiterpene that is a constituent of many essential oils, especially clove oil, the oil from the stems and flowers of Syzygium aromaticum (cloves), the essential oil of Cannabis sativa, copaiba, rosemary, and hops. It is usually found as a mixture with isocaryophyllene and α-humulene, a ring-opened isomer. Caryophyllene is notable for having a cyclobutane ring, as well as a trans-double bond in a 9-membered ring, both rarities in nature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elemicin</span> Chemical compound

Elemicin is a phenylpropene, a natural organic compound, and is a constituent of several plant species' essential oils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copaene</span> Chemical compound

Copaene, or more precisely, α-copaene, is the common chemical name of an oily liquid hydrocarbon that is found in a number of essential oil-producing plants. The name is derived from that of the resin-producing tropical copaiba tree, Copaifera langsdorffii, from which the compound was first isolated in 1914. Its structure, including the chirality, was determined in 1963. The double-bond isomer with an exocyclic-methylene group, β-copaene, was first reported in 1967.

β-Pinene Chemical compound

β-Pinene is a monoterpene, an organic compound found in plants. It is one of the two isomers of pinene, the other being α-pinene. It is a colorless liquid soluble in alcohol, but not water. It has a woody-green pine-like smell.

<i>Copaifera langsdorffii</i> Species of legume

Copaifera langsdorffii, also known as the diesel tree, is a tropical rainforest tree. It has many names in local languages, including kupa'y, cabismo, and copaúva.

<i>Commiphora myrrha</i> Species of tree

Commiphora myrrha, called myrrh, African myrrh, herabol myrrh, Somali myrrhor, common myrrh, is a tree in the Burseraceae family. It is one of the primary trees used in the production of myrrh, a resin made from dried tree sap. The tree is native to the Arabian peninsula and to Africa. It is called 'mur' (المر) in Arabic, meaning bitter. It famously comes from Mecca, so it is called 'Mur Makki'.

<i>Copaifera</i> Genus of legumes

Copaifera is a genus of tropical plants in the legume family Fabaceae. It includes 40 species native to the tropical Americas, west and central tropical Africa, and Borneo.

<i>Copaifera officinalis</i> Species of plant in the genus Copaifera

Copaifera officinalis, the copaiba balsam, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to Bolivia, Brazil, and Venezuela. It has been introduced to Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Sierra Leone, India, and Sri Lanka. Like other members of its genus, its trunks are tapped for its oleoresin, sometimes termed balsam of copaiba or, when refined, copaiba oil, which has industrial, artisanal, and medicinal purposes. Its oleoresin exhibits better bactericidal activity against common pathogens than that of Copaifera langsdorffii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copalic acid</span> Chemical compound

Copalic acid is a chemical compound that is a constituent of copaiba oil, an oleoresin extracted from trees in the genus Copaifera. It is a diterpenoid of the labdane class.

References

  1. 1 2 Karl-Georg Fahlbusch; et al. (2007), "Flavors and Fragrances", Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry (7th ed.), Wiley, p. 96
  2. Valdir F. Veiga Jr. et al, Phytochemical and Antioedematogenic Studies of Commercial Copaiba Oils Available in Brazil; Phytotherapy Research, 15, 476-480 (2001).
  3. Medeiros, Vanessa Gonçalves; Durán, Fernando Javier; Lang, Karen Luise (2021). "Copalic Acid: Occurrence, Chemistry, and Biological Activities". Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia. 31 (4): 375–386. doi:10.1007/s43450-021-00173-2. S2CID   258704922.
  4. "Farmer planning diesel tree biofuel". Sydney Morning Herald. 2006-09-19. Retrieved 2006-10-14.
  5. "New fuel source from trees". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-04-24. Retrieved 2007-04-26.[ dead link ]
  6. Almeida MR, Darin JD, Hernandes LC, de Souza Ramos MF, Antunes LM, de Freitas O (2012). "Genotoxicity assessment of Copaiba oil and its fractions in Swiss mice". Genet Mol Biol. 35 (3): 664–72. doi:10.1590/S1415-47572012005000052. PMC   3459418 . PMID   23055807.
  7. Duke, James A. (1982). "Copaifera langsdorfii Desf.". Handbook of Energy Crops. Purdue Center for New Crops.
  8. Odonne, Guillaume (2014). "Ethnobotany of Amazonia". Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures: 1–7. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-3934-5_9889-1.
  9. van der Werf, Inez D.; van den Berg, Klaas Jan; Schmitt, Sibylle; Boon, Jaap J. (March 2000). "Molecular Characterization of Copaiba Balsam as Used in Painting Techniques and Restoration Procedures". Studies in Conservation. 45 (1): 1–18. doi:10.1179/sic.2000.45.1.1.
  10. Haywood, Emma (January 1889). "Royal Worcester Decoration". The Decorator and Furnisher. 13 (4): 110-111.
  11. Sustainability of extraction and production of copaiba (Copaifera multijuga Hayne) oleoresin in Manaus, AM, Brazil. (Medeiros and Vieira, 2008; Brazil, 2011). Medeiros RD, Vieira G. For Ecol Manage. 2008;256:282–288.
  12. Veiga VF Jr, Zunino L, Calixto JB, Patitucci ML, Pinto AC (2001). "Phytochemical and antioedematogenic studies of commercial copaiba oils available in Brazil". Phytother Res. 15 (6): 476–80. doi:10.1002/ptr.976. PMID   11536374. S2CID   29960482.
  13. Food and Chemicals Codex, Fourth Edition, 1996; National Academy Press, ISBN   0-309-05394-3
  14. D. L. J. Opdyke, Food and Cosmetics Toxicology, Vol 14, p. 687 (1976)
  15. Robert Tisserand, Tony Balacs (1995). Essential Oil Safety. Churchill Livingstone Press, ISBN   978-0443052606.