Camphor - History

History

The word camphor derives from the French word camphre, itself from Medieval Latin camfora, from Arabic kafur, from Sanskrit, karpūra. The term ultimately was derived from Old Malay kapur barus which means "the chalk of Barus". Barus was the name of an ancient port located near modern Sibolga city on the western coast of Sumatra island (today North Sumatra Province, Indonesia). This port was initially built prior to the Indian - Batak trade in camphor and spices. Traders from India, East Asia and the Middle East would use the term kapur barus to buy the dried extracted ooze of camphor trees from local Batak tribesmen; in proto Malay-Austronesian language (Sanskrit adapted-Bataknese alphabets)] it is also known as kapur Barus. Even now, the local tribespeople and Indonesians in general refer to naphthalene balls and moth balls as kapur Barus. For the local tribespeople, the use of camphor ranges from deodorant, wood-finishing veneer, traditional rituals and non-edible preservatives as the camphor tree itself is natively found in that region. The tree, called "Kamfer" in Indonesian, is also known for its resistance to tropical termites.

The sublimating capability of camphor is quite similar to alcohol, and an early international trade in it made camphor widely known throughout Arabia in pre-Islamic times, as it is mentioned in the Quran 76:5 as a flavoring for drinks. In the 9th century, the Arab chemist, Al-Kindi (known as Alkindus in Europe), provided the earliest "publicity" for the production of camphor in his Kitab Kimiya' al-'Itr (Book of the Chemistry of Perfume). By the 13th century, it was used in recipes everywhere in the Muslim world, ranging from main dishes such as tharid and stew to desserts.

Already in the 19th century, it was known that with nitric acid, camphor could be oxidized into camphoric acid. Haller and Blanc published a semisynthesis of camphor from camphoric acid, which, although demonstrating its structure, would not prove it. The first complete total synthesis for camphoric acid was published by Gustaf Komppa in 1903. Its starting materials were diethyl oxalate and 3,3-dimethylpentanoic acid, which reacted by Claisen condensation to give diketocamphoric acid. Methylation with methyl iodide and a complicated reduction procedure produced camphoric acid. William Perkin published another synthesis a short time later. Previously, some organic compounds (such as urea) had been synthesized in the laboratory as a proof of concept, but camphor was a scarce natural product with a worldwide demand. Komppa realized this and began industrial production of camphor in Tainionkoski, Finland, in 1907.