Storax (resin)

Description

1) A brown, sticky, aromatic resin obtained from the liquidambar trees, such as Liquidambar orientalis, native to Turkey. Storax contains triterpenoids (oleamonic acid, storesin) along with Styrene, stryacin, and cinnamic acid. In 1839, E. Simon noticed that a white solid formed in the steam distillate obtained from storax. This solid obtained from styrene is now known as Polystyrene. Storax resin is sometimes used as a mounting media for microscope slides.

2) An archaic name for a brown, aromatic resin obtained from the Styrax officinalis trees, native to upper Egypt. This resin is now called Benzoin.

Synonyms and Related Terms

Liquidambar orientalis; liquid storax; Levant storax: styrax; benzoin; Styrax officinalis; benzoino (It); gum styrax; gum benzoin; balsam storax; gum benjamin; liquid ambaer; copalm balsam

Other Properties

Soluble in ethanol, ether, acetone, carbon disulfide.

Sources Checked for Data in Record

• A.Lucas, J.R.Harris, Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries, Edward Arnold Publishers Ltd., London, 4th edition, 1962

• M.Kaufman, The First Century of Plastics, The Plastics and Rubber Institute, London, 1963

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998

• Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online, http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2000