500 OLEO-RESINS 



Description. Crude storax is a greyish, semi-fluid, viscid substance 

 with an agreeable, aromatic, balsamic odour and a sharp, pungent 

 taste. It is rather heavier than water, and contains usually vegetable 

 debris, amongst which numerous bast fibres may be found. By 

 drying it loses from 17*4 to 25*8 per cent, of water. 



The crude drug is purified by dissolving it in three or four times its 

 volume of hot alcohol, filtering, and removing the alcohol by gentle 

 evaporation, care being taken to lose as little of the volatile constituents 

 as possible. From 13 to 18 per cent, of the crude storax is insoluble 

 in alcohol, the residue consisting principally of vegetable debris 

 associated with inorganic matter (' Pharmacographia '). According to 

 Evers (1896) storax contains from 6 to 9 per cent, of a greyish substance 

 insoluble in alcohol, probably a resin ester of cinnamic acid. 



Thus purified, storax is a semi-transparent, yellowish brown, semi- 

 liquid balsam, entirely soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, and carbon 

 disulphide. It should have a specific gravity of 1-109 to 1*114 at 

 100. 



Constituents. Purified storax consists of a resin mixed with an oily 

 liquid. 



The resin is composed oi storesinol partly free, partly combined 

 with cinnamic acid. Storesinol is a white odourless amorphous 

 substance which, however, forms a crystalline potassium compound. 



The oily liquid contains styrol (phenylethylene, a colourless aromatic 

 liquid), ethyl cinnamate, phenylpropyl cinnamate (odourless liquid) 

 cinnamyl cinnamate (= styracin, odourless crystals), vanillin, and 

 free cinnamic acid. 



The approximate composition of storax, which, however, varies 

 considerably, may be seen from the following table : 



Free cinnamic acid . . . . . 17 to 23 per cent. 



Esters of cinnamic acid . . . . 24 to 25 



Water 14 to 21 



Resin 36 



Purified storax may contain as much as 47 per cent, of cinnamic 

 acid (free and combined), and is, in this respect, one of the richest 

 drugs known. 



Uses. Storax is a local and remote stimulant and antiseptic, 

 resembling in these respects balsam of Peru, benzoin, &c. It is now 

 seldom used. 



Adulteration. The quantitative composition of storax is so variable 

 that its purity can with difficulty be ascertained. 



The acid value should vary between 60 and 90 and the ester value 

 between 100 and 146. It should contain not less than 20 per cent, 

 of total cinnamic acid when tested by the official process. Storax of 

 good quality yields often from 25 to 30 per cent, of acid. 



