Storax
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Storax is also a name for trees in the genus Styrax
Storax is the resinous exudate of the tree Liquidambar orientalis (commonly called oriental sweetgum or Turkish sweetgum), occasionally used in incense or as an aromatic fixative in perfumery.
Eduard Simon extracted an oily liquid from storax through water damp distillation in 1839.[1] He named it "styrol" which translates to styrene in English.[2] According to [3] styrene was distillated before by others. Styrene polymerises under natural conditions to polystyrene.
The similarly named styrax is from a different plant.
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[edit] In popular culture
[edit] Film
- Storax is featured as the final ingredient for the scent Amor and Psyche in the 2006 film Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, based on Patrick Süskind's 1985 novel, Perfume.
[edit] Literature
- Ralph Waldo Emerson likens the religious sentiment to storax in his famous Divinity School Address: "The perception of [the divine law of virtue] awakens in the mind ... the religious sentiment ... Wonderful is its power to charm and to command ... It is myrrh and storax, and chlorine and rosemary..."
[edit] References
- ^ Simon E.: Liebigs Ann. chem. 31, (1839) p. 265
- ^ Gausepol, Gellert: Polystyrol, Kunststoffhandbuch Band 4, Munich 1996 Preview online on Google books
- ^ Ray H. Boundy, Raymond F. Boyer, and Sylvia M. Stoesser, Styrene: its polymers, copolymers, and derivatives, 1952, Reinhold, New York
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By Cherith Wright
