Resin acids are protectants and wood preservatives that are produced by parenchymatous epithelial cells that surround the resin ducts in trees from temperate coniferous forests. The resin acids are formed when two- and three-carbon molecules couple with isoprene building units to form mono-, sesqui-, and diterpene structures. Resin acids have two functional groups: carboxyl group and double bonds. Nearly all have the same basic skeleton: a 3-ring fused system with the empirical formula C19H29COOH.
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Synthetic resins are materials with similar properties to natural resins - viscous liquids capable of hardening. They are typically manufactured by esterification or soaping of organic compounds. The classic variety is epoxy resin, manufactured through polymerization-polyaddition or polycondensation reactions, used as a thermoset polymer for adhesives and composites. One more catagory which constitutes the 75% of resins used is Unsaturated Polyester Resin Ion exchange resin is another important class with application in water purification and catalysis of organic reactions.
In chemistry, a hydrocarbon is any chemical compound that consists only of the elements carbon (C) and hydrogen (H). They all consist of a carbon backbone and atoms of hydrogen attached to that backbone. (Often the term is used as a shortened form of the term aliphatic hydrocarbon.)
For example, methane (swamp/marsh gas) is a hydrocarbon with one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms: CH4. Ethane is a hydrocarbon (more specifically, an alkane) consisting of two carbon atoms held together with a single bond, each with three hydrogen atoms bonded: C2H6. Propane has three C atoms (C3H8) and so on (CnH2n+2).
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Resin is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees, valued for its chemical constituents and uses such as varnishes and adhesives. The term is also used for synthetic substances of similar properties.
Plants produce resins for various reasons whose relative importances are debated. It is known that resins seal the plant’s wounds, kill insects and fungi, and also allow the plant to eliminate excess metabolites.
Formed in special resin canals, resin is typically exuded in soft drops from wounds, hardening into solid masses in the air. It may be obtained by making incisions in the bark or wood of the secreting plant, or extracted from resin-bearing plants by leaching of the tissues with alcohol. The hardening property has made resins traditionally useful as varnishes and adhesives.
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