tara pod powder is not so exotic on this side of the atlantic. froogle can't find much, but its there. $1060 for 21 metric tons. wow. tanning is as rewarding a hobby as brewing.
yes, the hydrolysis is well known, but i just wanted to mention a patent, since Mountain_Girl brought it up before but the # was transposed and never fixed. this alleges higher yields than the hydrolysis above, but uses a lot of solvent. obviously this can be recycled if in fact such large amounts are necessary. hydrolyses with acid, base, tara, nutgalls, and sumac are described in
Patent US2723992
i'm guessing that the gallic acid might be destined for methylation, so let me ask some questions here of the Hive. would a Deutsch speaking bee care to translate Herzig, Ber. 38, 989 (1905) where tannin was methylated with diazomethane, then hydrolyzed to trimethylgallic acid? if not, then how about the original amphetamine synthesis (for the hell of it) Edeleano, Ber. 20, 616 (1887)? yeah i know there are a lot of more worthy articles to translate, but the Edeleano one sure is historic. and long!
any comments on one-pot methylation and hydrolysis of gallotannin to the acid or ester?