Sap from lacquer trees dries into a tough and brilliant film (1, 2) for use as a surface coating material. Lacquer saps in Asia are Rhus vernicifera (Japan, China, and Korea), Rhus succedanea (Vietnam, and Taiwan), and Melanorrhoea usitata (Thailand, and Myanmer). These saps are different in colour and character with respect to lacquer film, and the structures and compositions of the major lipid components contained in the saps. The major components in Rhus vernicifera are urushiol, and those of Rhus succedanea and Melanorrhoea usitata, laccol and thitsiol. The main constituent of the sap from the Rhus succedanea lacquer tree is latex composed of laccol (42-44%), water (32-39%), plant gum (16-17%), water-insoluble glycoprotein (3-7%) and laccase enzyme (0.1-1%). Laccols are compounds made of 3-substituted catechols with saturated and unsaturated side chains. The composition of the olefinic side chain of the laccol components has been investigated using analytical instruments such as gel permeation chromatography (GPC), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The structures and constituents of the laccol from a Vietnamese lacquer are shown in Fig. 1 as reported by Kumanotani et al. (3). The lacquer sap from Rhus succedanea was analyzed using DB-17 [methylphenyl(50%)silicone] as the separation column for GC and GC/MS. Thus many more laccol components were
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