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Author Topic: Camphor Confusion  (Read 87 times)

hermeswayfinder

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Camphor Confusion
« on: June 04, 2012, 06:12:54 PM »
I have read that Rosmarinus officials, aka Rosemary, contains camphor in very large quantities. I have also read else where that Cinnamomum camphor, aka Camphor Laurel, contains camphor as well. The confusing part for me is whether or not these camphors are one and the same. When reading about the camphor oil from the Camphor Laurel is said that fractionating it will produce a low B.P oil (white camphor) and a high B.P oil (brown camphor), which contains safrole. Would this result be the same for the fractionating of camphor in Rosemary or is this camphor a terpene (I believe terpene is the correct terminology, but correct me if I'm wrong) by the same name, but not containing safrole?
« Last Edit: June 04, 2012, 06:16:04 PM by hermeswayfinder »

wasabi

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Re: Camphor Confusion
« Reply #1 on: June 04, 2012, 06:48:10 PM »
Safrole is a product of the fractionating of  camphor oil, not camphor.
Camphor oil is a name given to the oil extracted from Cinnamomum Camphora.
Camphor is also an independent compound of little use to us.

lugh

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Re: Camphor Confusion
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2012, 07:50:56 PM »
According to:

h**p://sun.ars-grin.gov:8080/npgspub/xsql/duke/plantdisp.xsql?taxon=873

there's between 32 and 95 parts per million safrole content  ;)  Thus while there's some safrole present there's little doubt that it's useless as a practical source  ::)  This information was found very easily simply by following a link on Wikipedia  :-X  Thus this thread is yet another example of newbee laziness  :P  As always, the end results from the effort applied  8)
Chemistry is our Covalent Bond

hermeswayfinder

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Re: Camphor Confusion
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2012, 11:29:22 PM »
thanks wasabi you answered my question exactly.

lugh i see you are a valuable contributor around here and i respect your dislike for laziness, but i spent time researching before i posted and i did read that bit about the ppm safrole content before your post. my question was just if camphor oil and camphor the compound were different things. seemed silly to me that two different things would have the same name, but we live in a silly world don't we. i will admit that i know very little when it comes to this subject, but i'm going to learn and i promise you i will always research a question i have before i ask it.

fresh1

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Re: Camphor Confusion
« Reply #4 on: June 05, 2012, 06:46:44 PM »
hey HWF I totally understand the confusion with names in this chemistry game, you will learn to glean the important ones in time.

I also totally understand lugh here, who thought you were asking about the camphor (oil) content in the rosemary, which I admit I did too on my first reading, so was a little puzzled with wasabi's comment, and then yours :o  Silly me! ::)

However I dont quite understand 'how', if you did read the wiki articles on camphor (the waxy substance used in moth balls) and also about camphor oil, that comes from camphor laurel trees, you were able to confuse the two ???

Especially if you did a bit of cross referencing like searching for "safrole content of camphor" AND ALSO the "safrole content of camphor OIL"  and it should have become pretty clear which one is the one being discussed here ;)

Please dont take this comment as a dis hwf  it's just I can see both your and lughs povs (as I mentioned I ONLY saw lugh's pov at first :o) and so I thought I'd try and share this fact on my pov on the matter :P and how I misread your post ::)
"Curiosity is a gift"
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