Vegetable tannin

Description

Natural plant extracts that react with proteins (skin, albumin, gelatin, etc.) to form insoluble degradation resistant products, such as leather. Tannins have been used for several thousand years, especially in China. Most vegetable tannins fall into two general classes of vegetable tannins. One is catechol and the other is pyrogallol. Catechol tannins contain an organic phenolic compound(s). Examples are cutch, quebracho, hemlock, gambier, and willow. Pyrogallol tannins contain pyrogallic acid. Examples include chestnut, oak bark, myrobalan extract, and divi-divi.

Synonyms and Related Terms

vegetable tannins; natural tannins; wattle; quebracho; divi divi; sumac; myrabolan; mangrove; oak bark; chestnut; gambier; willow; hemlock; cutch

Authority

• Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1982

• Website address 1 Comment: American Leather Chemists Association Glossary at www.leatherchemists.org