สารบัญ

Thai name  ชันสน (CHAN SON)

Category  Pharmaceutic necessity for certain plaster masses and collodions.

        Colophony is the residue left after distilling the volatile oil from the oleo-resin obtained from Pinus palustris Mill., P. merkusii Jungh. & de Vriese and other species of Pinus (Family Pinaceae).

Origin of plant  Colophony-yielding plants are native to Asia, Europe and North America.

Constituents  Colophony contains about 90 per cent of resin acids or isomeric diterpene acids.

Description  Translucent, pale yellow to brownish yellow, with conchoidal markings on the surface, angular, irregularly-shaped, glassy pieces of different sizes, brittle.  Odour, mild, pine-like.

Other relevant information  Caution should be exercised when handling colophony as it may cause contact dermatitis.

Packaging and storage  Colophony shall be kept in well-closed containers, preferably in the unground state.

Identification  Carry out the test as described in the “Thin-Layer Chromatography” (Appendix 3.1).
     Standard solution  Dissolve 10 mg of thymol, and 10 mg of linalool in 10 mL of methanol.
     Test solution  Dissolve 1 g in 10 mL of methanol by gently warming.
     Adsorbent  Silica gel G, use a typical plate (20×20 cm).
     Mobile phase  Dichloromethane.
     Application  Apply 10 µL each of Standard solution and Test solution as 10-mm bands.
     Development and drying  Dry the developed plate in air.
     Detection  Spray the plate with anisaldehyde TS, heat at 105° for 10 minutes and examine under visible light.  Observe the result.
     Results  When examined under visible light, the test solution shows a purple band of linalool in the lower third of the chromatogram, corresponding in colour and R_f to the band shown by the standard solution.  Several purple bands around the middle and in the upper third of the chromatogram also appear. 
Total ash  Not more than 0.2 per cent w/w (Appendix 7.7).
Acid value  145 to 180; use 1 g (Appendix 5.4).