RESINS:Gum Copal:Gum copal (GC) is

RESINS:
Gum Copal:
Gum copal (GC) is a natural resinous material of plant
Bursera bipinnata (family Burseraceae).Copal, a resinous
material, is obtained from the plants of araucariaceae and
86 caesalpinaceae, a subfamily of leguminoaceae .
Copal resin (CR) contains agathic acid, a diterpenoid and
related lobdane compounds along with cis-communic acid,
trans-communic acid, polycommunic acid, sandaracopimaric
acid, agathalic acid, monomethyl ester of agathalic acid,
agatholic acid and acetoxy agatholic acid. CR obtained from
leguminoaceae family contains copalic acid, pimaric acid,
i sopimar ic acid, dehydro-dehydroabiet ic acid,
86 dehydroabietic acid and abietic acid .
Medicinally, Copal is used in the treatment of headache,
87 fever, burns and stomach ache . In dentistry, it is used as
binding media in dental products and in treatment of micro leakage in teeth . Recently, Copal gum has been evaluated as
13 matrix-forming material for sustaining the drug delivery .
In an independent study copal resin was investigated as a film
89 forming agent . The free films, prepared in alcohol by
solvent evaporation technique, were brittle with high tacking
property. Addition of 1% w/w propylene glycol improved the
mechanical properties of copal resin films, whereas glyceryl
monostearate, sorbitan mono-oleate and sorbitan
monolaurate in 15% w/w reduced the tackiness significantly.
CR films showed good swelling property in phosphate buffer
(pH 7.4). It was concluded that it can be used as a coating
material for sustained release and colon-targeted drug
delivery.