Turpentine

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Turpentine

Turpentine (also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, wood turpentine, gum turpentine) is a fluid obtained by the distillation

Distillation

Distillation is a method of separation process mixtures based on differences in their Volatility in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....
of resin

Resin

Resin is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly Pinophyta. It is valued for its chemical constituents and uses, such as varnishes and adhesives, as an important source of raw materials for organic synthesis, or for incense and perfume....
obtained from trees, mainly pine

Pine

Pines are Pinophyta trees in the genus Pinus, in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species....
trees. It is composed of terpene

Terpene

Terpenes are a large and varied class of hydrocarbons, produced primarily by a wide variety of plants, particularly conifers, though also by some insects such as termites or swallowtail butterflies, which emit terpenes from their osmeterium....
s, mainly the monoterpenes alpha-pinene

Alpha-Pinene

a-Pinene is an organic compound of the terpene class, one of two isomers of pinene. It is an alkene and it contains a reactive Cyclobutane. It is found in the oils of many species of many Pinophyta trees, notably the pine....
and beta-pinene

Beta-Pinene

beta-Pinene is a colorless liquid, solubility in alcohol, but not water. It has a woody-green pine-like odour. It occurs naturally in rosemary, parsley, dill, basil, yarrow, and rose....
. It is sometimes known colloquially as turps, but this more often refers to turpentine substitute (or mineral turpentine).

The word turpentine is formed (via French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
and Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
) from the Greek word terebinthine, the name of a species of tree, the terebinth

Terebinth

Terebinth also called turpentine tree is a species of Pistacia, native to the Mediterranean region from the western regions of Morocco, Portugal and the Canary Islands, to western Turkey....
tree, from whose sap the spirit was originally distilled.

of the earliest sources was the terebinth

Terebinth

Terebinth also called turpentine tree is a species of Pistacia, native to the Mediterranean region from the western regions of Morocco, Portugal and the Canary Islands, to western Turkey....
or turpentine tree (Pistacia terebinthus), a Mediterranean tree related to the pistachio

Pistachio

The pistachio is a small tree native to mountainous regions of Iran, Turkmenistan, Turkey and western Afghanistan, that produces an important nut #Culinary definition and uses....
.

Important pines for turpentine production include: Maritime Pine

Maritime Pine

The Maritime Pine is a pine native to the western Mediterranean region.The range extends from Portugal and Spain north to southern and western France, east to western Italy, and south to northern Morocco, with small outlying populations in Algeria and Malta ....
(Pinus pinaster), Aleppo Pine

Aleppo Pine

The Aleppo Pine is a pine native to the Mediterranean region. The range extends from Morocco and Spain north to southern France, Italy and Croatia, and east to Greece and northern Libya, with an outlying population in Syria , Jordan and Israel....
(Pinus halepensis), Masson's Pine

Masson's Pine

Masson's Pine is a species of pine, native to a wide area of central and southern China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, and northern Vietnam, growing at low to moderate altitudes, mostly below 1,500 m but rarely up to 2,000 m altitude....
(Pinus massoniana), Sumatran Pine

Sumatran Pine

The Sumatran Pine is a pine native to southeast Asia, mainly in the mountains of northern Sumatra, and with two outlying populations, on Mount Kerinci and Mount Talang in central Sumatra, and in the Philippines on Mindoro and the Zambales Mountains of western Luzon....
(Pinus merkusii), Longleaf Pine

Longleaf Pine

The Longleaf Pine is a pine native to the southeast United States, found along the coastal plain from eastern Texas to southeast Virginia extending into northern and central Florida....
(Pinus palustris), Loblolly Pine

Loblolly Pine

Pinus taeda is one of several pines native to the Southeastern United States United States. The trees reach a height of 30-35 m with a diameter of 0.4-1.5 m ....
(Pinus taeda) and Ponderosa Pine

Ponderosa Pine

Ponderosa Pine , sometimes called Bull Pine or Western Yellow Pine, is a widespread and variable pine native to western North America....
(Pinus ponderosa).

When producing chemical wood pulp

Wood pulp

Pulp is a dry fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating fibers from wood or fiber crops.Pulp can be either fluffy or formed into thick sheets....
from pines

Pines

Pines can refer to:* Pines of Pannonia, the name an Illyrian from Pannonia*Pinnes son of Agron King of Illyria* Pine, a coniferous trees of the genus Pinus, in the family Pinaceae...
with the kraft process

Kraft process

The kraft process describes a technology for conversion of wood into wood pulp consisting of almost pure cellulose fibers. The process entails treatment of wood chips with a mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide that break the bonds that link lignin to the cellulose....
, turpentine is collected as a byproduct.

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Encyclopedia

Turpentine (also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, wood turpentine, gum turpentine) is a fluid obtained by the distillation

Distillation

Resin

Pine

Terpene

Alpha-Pinene

Beta-Pinene

French language

Latin

Terebinth

Production

One of the earliest sources was the terebinth

Terebinth

Terebinth also called turpentine tree is a species of Pistacia, native to the Mediterranean region from the western regions of Morocco, Portugal and the Canary Islands, to western Turkey....
or turpentine tree (Pistacia terebinthus), a Mediterranean tree related to the pistachio

Pistachio

Maritime Pine

Aleppo Pine

Masson's Pine

Sumatran Pine

Longleaf Pine

Loblolly Pine

Ponderosa Pine

Wood pulp

Pulp is a dry fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating fibers from wood or fiber crops.Pulp can be either fluffy or formed into thick sheets....
from pines

Pines

Kraft process

Industrial and other end uses

The two primary uses of turpentine in industry are as a solvent

Solvent

A solvent is a liquid or gas that dissolves a solid, liquid, or gaseous solute, resulting in a solution.The most common solvent in everyday life is water....
and as a source of materials for organic synthesis

Organic synthesis

Organic synthesis is a special branch of chemical synthesis and is concerned with the construction of organic compounds via organic reactions. Organic_chemistry molecules can often contain a higher level of complexity compared to purely Inorganic_chemistry compounds, so the synthesis of organic compounds has developed into one of the most im...
.

As a solvent, turpentine is used for thinning oil-based paint

Paint

Paint is any liquid, liquifiable, or mastic composition which after application to a Substrate in a thin layer is converted to an opaque solid film....
s, for producing varnish

Varnish

Varnish is a Transparency , hard, protective finish or film primarily used in wood finishing but also for other materials. Varnish is traditionally a combination of a drying oil, a resin, and a Turpentine substitute or solvent....
es, and as a raw material for the chemical industry. Its industrial use as a solvent in industrialized nations has largely been replaced by the much cheaper turpentine substitutes distilled from crude oil.

Canada balsam

Canada balsam

Canada balsam, also called Canada turpentine or balsam of fir, is a turpentine which is made from the resin of the Abies balsamea tree ....
, also called Canada turpentine or balsam of fir

Fir

Firs are a genus of between 45-55 species of evergreen Pinophyta in the family Pinaceae. All are trees, reaching heights of 10-80 m tall and trunk diameters of 0.5-4 m when mature....
, is a turpentine which is made from the resin

Resin

Western Larch

Western Larch is a species of larch native to the mountains of western North America, in Canada in southeastern British Columbia and southwestern Alberta, and in the United States in eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, northern Idaho and western Montana....
Larix occidentalis.

Turpentine is also used as a source of raw materials in the synthesis of fragrant chemical compounds. Commercially used camphor

Camphor

Camphor is a waxy, white or transparent solid with a strong, aromatic odor. It is a terpenoid with the chemical formula carbon10hydrogen16oxygen....
, linalool

Linalool

Linalool is a naturally-occurring terpene alcohol chemical found in many flowers and spice plants with many commercial applications, the majority of which are based on its pleasant scent ....
, alpha-terpineol

Terpineol

Terpineol is a naturally occurring monoterpene alcohol that has been isolated from a variety of sources such as cajuput oil, pine oil, and petitgrain oil....
, and geraniol

Geraniol

Geraniol is a terpenoid and an alcohol. It is the primary part of rose oil, palmarosa oil, and citronella oil . It also occurs in small quantities in Pelargonium, lemon, and many other essential oils....
are all usually produced from alpha-pinene

Pinene

The chemical compound pinene is a bicyclic terpene known as a monoterpene . There are two structural isomers found in nature: Alpha-Pinene and Beta-pinene....
and beta-pinene, which are two of the chief chemical components of turpentine. These pinenes are separated and purified by distillation. The mixture of diterpenes and triterpenes that is left as residue after turpentine distillation is sold as rosin

Rosin

Rosin, formerly called colophony or Greek pitch , is a solid form of resin obtained from pines and some other plants, mostly Pinophyta, produced by heating fresh liquid resin to vaporize the volatile liquid terpene components....
.

Turpentine is also added to many cleaning and sanitary products due to its antiseptic properties and its "clean scent".

In early 19th Century America, turpentine was sometimes burned in lamps as a cheap alternative to whale oil. It was most commonly used for outdoor lighting, due to its strong odor.

Turpentine has long been used as a solvent, mixed with beeswax

Beeswax

Beeswax is a natural wax produced in the Beehive of honey bees of the genus Apis. Worker bees have eight wax-producing mirror glands on the inner sides of the sternites on abdominal segments 4 to 7....
or with carnauba wax

Carnauba wax

Carnauba is a wax derived from the leaves of the carnauba palm, Copernicia prunifera, a plant native to and grown only in the northeastern Brazil states of Piau?, Cear?, and Rio Grande do Norte....
, to make fine furniture wax for use as a protective coating over oiled wood finishes (e.g., lemon oil).

Hazards

Turpentine is an organic

Organic compound

An organic compound is any member of a large class of chemical compounds whose molecules contain carbon. For historical reasons discussed below, a few types of compounds such as carbonates, simple oxides of carbon and cyanides, as well as the allotropes of carbon, are considered Inorganic compound....
solvent, and thus poses many of the same hazards as do other such substances. Its vapor can irritate the skin and eyes, damage the lungs and respiratory system, as well as the central nervous system

Central nervous system

The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that functions to coordinate the activity of all parts of the bodies of multicellular organisms....
when inhaled, and cause renal failure

Renal failure

Renal failure or kidney failure is a situation in which the kidneys fail to function adequately. It is divided in acute and chronic forms; either form may be due to a large number of other medical problems....
when ingested, among other things. It is extremely flammable.

Medicinal elixir

Turpentine and petroleum distillates such as coal oil

Coal oil

Coal oil is a specific shale oil used for illuminating purposes. It is sometimes confused with kerosene or Oil lamp#Fuel, but coal oil is obtained from the destructive distillation of cannel coal, mineral wax, and bituminous shale, and hence called coal oil....
and kerosene have been used medicinally since ancient times, as topical and sometimes internal home remedies. Topically it has been used for abrasions and wounds, as a treatment for lice, and when mixed with animal fat

Animal fat

Animal fats are Rendering tissue fat that can be obtained from a variety of animals....
it has been used as a chest rub, or inhaler for nasal and throat ailments. Many modern chest rubs, such as the Vicks

Vicks

Vicks is a line of Over-the-counter substance medications owned by the American company Procter & Gamble. Vicks manufactures NyQuil and its sister medication, DayQuil....
variety, still contain turpentine in their formulations.

Though internal administration of these toxic products is no longer common today, it was once administered by masking the taste by dosing sugar cubes, molasses, or honey, or when unavailable, straight. It was touted as treatment for intestinal parasite

Intestinal parasite

Intestinal parasites are parasites that populate the gastro-intestinal tract in humans. They can live throughout the body, but most prefer the intestinal wall....
s due to its alleged antiseptic

Antiseptic

Antiseptics are antimicrobials that are applied to living biological tissue/skin to reduce the possibility of infection, sepsis, or putrefaction....
and diuretic

Diuretic

A diuretic is any drug that elevates the rate of urination and thus provides a means of forced diuresis. There are several categories of diuretics....
properties, and a general cure-all.

Turpentine

Production

Industrial and other end uses

Hazards

Medicinal elixir

External links

See also