Dammar, also called dammar gum, or damar gum, is a

resin A resin is a solid or highly viscous liquid that can be converted into a polymer. Resins may be biological or synthetic in origin, but are typically harvested from plants. Resins are mixtures of organic compounds, predominantly terpenes. Commo ...

obtained from the tree family

Dipterocarpaceae Dipterocarpaceae is a family (biology), family of flowering plants with 22 genera and about 695 known species of mainly lowland tropical forest trees. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, principally those of the

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

Shorea Fruit of a ''Shorea'' species ''Shorea'' is a genus of about 47 species of mainly rainforest trees in the family Dipterocarpaceae. The timber of trees of the genus is sold under the common names lauan, luan, lawaan, meranti, seraya, balau, bang ...

'' or '' Hopea'' (synonym ''Balanocarpus''). The resin of some species of '' Canarium'' may also called dammar. Most is produced by tapping trees; however, some is collected in

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

ised form on the ground. The gum varies in colour from clear to pale yellow, while the fossilised form is grey-brown. Dammar gum is a

triterpenoid Triterpenes are a class of terpenes composed of six isoprene units with the molecular formula C30H48; they may also be thought of as consisting of three terpene units. Animals, plants and fungi all produce triterpenes, including squalene, the pre ...

resin, containing many

triterpene Triterpenes are a class of terpenes composed of six isoprene units with the molecular formula C30H48; they may also be thought of as consisting of three terpene units. Animals, plants and fungi all produce triterpenes, including squalene, the pre ...

s and their oxidation products. Many of them are low molecular weight compounds (

dammarane Dammarane is a tetracyclic triterpene found in sapogenins (forming triterpenoid saponins) like those of ginseng (ginsenosides: panaxatriol Panaxatriol is an organic compound that is an aglycone of ginsenosides, a group of steroid glycosides. I ...

, dammarenolic acid,

oleanane Oleanane is a natural triterpenoid. It is commonly found in woody angiosperms and as a result is often used as an indicator of these plants in the fossil record. It is a member of the oleanoid series, which consists of pentacyclic triterpenoids ...

, oleanonic acid, etc.), which easily oxidizes and photoxidizes.

Types

* ''Damar mata kucing'' ('cat's eye damar') is a crystalline resin, usually in the form of round balls. '' Shorea javanica'' is an important source in Indonesia. * ''Damar batu'' ('stone damar') is stone or pebble-shaped, opaque dammar collected from the ground. * ''Damar hitam'' ('black damar')

Uses

*''Dammar varnish'', made from dammar gum dissolved in

turpentine Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthine, terebenthene, terebinthine and, colloquially, turps) is a fluid obtainable by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Principall ...

, was introduced as a picture

varnish Varnish is a clear Transparency (optics), transparent hard protective coating or film. It is not to be confused with wood stain. It usually has a yellowish shade due to the manufacturing process and materials used, but it may also be pigmente ...

in 1826; commonly used in

oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...

, both during the painting process and after the painting is finished. Dammar varnish and similar gum varnishes auto-oxidize and yellow over a relatively short time regardless of storage method; this effect is more pronounced on paintings stored in darkness than with works on display in light due to the bleaching effects of sunlight on the colorants involved. *

Batik Batik is a dyeing technique using wax Resist dyeing, resist. The term is also used to describe patterned textiles created with that technique. Batik is made by drawing or stamping wax on a cloth to prevent colour absorption during the dyein ...

is made from dammar crystals dissolved in molten

paraffin wax Paraffin wax (or petroleum wax) is a soft colorless solid derived from petroleum, coal, or oil shale that consists of a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules containing between 20 and 40 carbon atoms. It is solid at room temperature and melting poi ...

, to prevent the wax from cracking when it is drawn onto silk or rayon. * Encaustic paints are made from dammar crystals in beeswax with pigment added. The dammar crystals serve as a hardening agent. *As caulk for ships in the past, frequently with pitch or bitumen. *As a common mounting material along with canada balsam for preparing biological samples for light microscopy. *Used in Ayurvedic medicine for various conditions.

Constituent compounds

Fresh dammar gum consists of a mixture of compounds; primarily hydroxydammarenone, dammarenolic acid, and oleanonic aldehyde.

Material safety

Physical data

* Appearance: white powder *

Melting point The melting point (or, rarely, liquefaction point) of a substance is the temperature at which it changes state of matter, state from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase (matter), phase exist in Thermodynamic equilib ...

: around 120 °C *

Density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

: 1.04 to 1.12 g/ml *

Refractive index In optics, the refractive index (or refraction index) of an optical medium is the ratio of the apparent speed of light in the air or vacuum to the speed in the medium. The refractive index determines how much the path of light is bent, or refrac ...

: around 1.5 * CAS number: 9000-16-2 * EINECS: 232-528-4 * Harmonised Tariff: 1301-90

Stability and toxicity

The gum is stable, probably combustible and incompatible with strong oxidising agents. Its toxicity is low, but inhalation of dust may cause allergies.

Types

Uses

Constituent compounds

Material safety

Physical data

Stability and toxicity

See also

References

Further reading