Tolu Balsam

TOLU BALSAM, Balsamum tolutanum, a resin or balsam that flows from cuts in the bark of trees of the Toluifera balsamum Millr. species, growing in Colombia, Brazil, and Venezuela. A very thick, transparent liquid, slightly brownish, with a pleasant odor and spicy taste. It dissolves in chloroform, alcohol, acetone, and alkaline solutions, but does not dissolve in gasoline or carbon disulfide. Composition: essential oil and 75-80% resin, consisting of benzoic and cinnamic acids and their esters, mainly with tolurezintannol (resin), and about 0.5% vanillin. T. b. was used from the 15th century as a mild expectorant and diuretic. Today its resin, Resina tolutana, freed from essential oil and free acids (partially) by boiling with water, is used to give a gloss to pills and other forms (varnishing). For this purpose, the resin is dissolved (1:5 or 1:10) in chloroform and the pills moistened with this solution are dried; the operation is repeated 3-5 times. It is also used in perfumery. In the USSR, it has gone out of use.