Q 1 What is Gutta-percha?How it is different from Heavea& Guayule.

Gutta-percha (Palaquium) is a genus of tropical trees native to Southeast Asia and

northern Australasia, from Taiwan south to the Malay Peninsula and east to the Solomon Islands. The same term is used to refer to an inelastic natural latex produced from the sap of these trees, particularly from the species Palaquium gutta. Chemically, gutta-percha is a polyterpene, a polymer of isoprene, or polyisoprene, specifically (trans-1,4-polyisoprene). Heavy use of gutta-percha during the second half of the nineteenth century, particularly as insulation for underwater telegraph cables, led to unsustainable harvesting and a collapse of the supply. The word 'gutta-percha' comes from the plant's name in Malay, getah perca, which translates as "percha sap".

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae

(unranked): Angiosperms

(unranked): Eudicots

(unranked): Asterids Order: Ericales

Family:

Sapotaceae

Genus:

Palaquium
Blanco

THE DISCOVERY OF GUTTA-PERCHA

Gutta-percha was obtained from a variety of guttiferous trees throughout the Pacific Rim although different varieties produce materials of differing quality. The differences generally reflect the quantity of resin in the product with that from Pahang having the lowest resin content. Balata has one of the highest resin contents and was obtained from trees in the tropical regions of South America. There is much confusion in the literature, and amongst collectors, as to what guttapercha is. In practical terms, and when addressing collectors items, the material is probably the whole residue from the latex, dried after collection from whichever tree was its source. This material tends to range from dark yellow through red to black. It is possible that it has undergone some degree of purification but, given the variations in initial composition, it would be extremely difficult to confirm this, even by detailed chemical analysis. In the same way that commercially available natural rubber is some 95% cis polyisoprene, the crude gutta- percha was often 30% to 50% trans polyisoprene. That is it has the same chemical building block as natural rubber (C5H8)n but with a different spacial configuration. Isolation of the pure trans polyisoprene gives a white/very pale cream cheesy material which looks and feels not unlike a block of high density polythene (m.p. about 135C) or polypropylene (m.p. 168C). The hard gutta-percha softens at relativel y low temperatures (>71C) and could then easily be mould ed or extruded (the screw extruder was invented in 1845). At slightly lower temperatures, around 60C, it can easily be cut whilst at room temperature it reverts to a hard material.

Taxonomy
The trees are 530 metres tall and up to 1 metre in trunk diameter. The leaves are evergreen, alternate or spirally arranged, simple, entire, 825 cm long, and glossy green above, often yellow or glaucous below. The flowers are produced in small clusters along the stems, each flower with a white corolla with 47 (mostly 6) acute lobes. The fruit is an ovoid 37 cm berry, containing 14 seeds; in many species the fruit is edible. In Australia, gutta-percha is a common name specifically used for the tree Excoecaria parvifolia, which yields an aromatic, heavy, dark brown timber. It is also called "northern birch". This particular species is not related to the palaquims

Uses
Electronics
Gutta-percha latex is biologically inert, resilient, and is a good electrical insulator with a high dielectric strength. The wood of many species is also valuable. Western inventors discovered the properties of gutta-percha latex in 1842, although the local population in its Malayan habitat had used it for a variety of applications for centuries. Allowing this fluid to evaporate and coagulate in the sun produced a latex which could be made flexible again with hot water, but which did not become brittle, unlike rubber prior to the discovery of vulcanization. By 1845, telegraph wires insulated with gutta-percha were being manufactured in the United Kingdom. It served as the insulating material for some of the earliest undersea telegraph cables, including the first transatlantic telegraph cable. Gutta-percha was particularly suitable for this purpose, as it was not attacked by marine plants or animals, a problem which had disabled previous undersea cables. The material was a major constituent of Chatterton's compound used as an insulating sealant for telegraph and other electrical cables.Polyethylene's superior insulative property has displaced it.The same bioinertness property that made it suitable for marine cables also means it does not readily react within the human body, and consequently it is used for a variety of surgical devices and for dental applications during root canal therapy. It is the predominant material used to obturate, or fill the empty space inside the root of a tooth after it has undergoneendodontic therapy. Its physical and chemical properties, including but not limited to itsinertness and biocompatibility, melting point, ductility and malleability, afford it an important role in the field of endodontics.

Insulator for underwater telegraph cables

This material, found just a few years earlier in Malaya, was presented to Cyrus Field by Samuel Canning who would come to be a member of the first transatlantic cable expedition. From Samuel Canning, Mr. Field learned of the difficulties of keeping the copper wires in the cable insulated because of the conductive medium from the ocean that surrounded the wire. Gutta-percha seemed to have the required properties for this task. Gutta-percha was produced by evaporating the milky fluid of the guttapercha tree and coagulating the latex from which an inelastic firm insulator resulted. This material softened in hot water. It had a distinct advantage over India rubber that had been used in earlier cables because, on cooling, it became hard without becoming brittle. It was ideally suited for underwater use where the cold and pressure improved its insulating qualities. Submersion also kept the cable away from sunlight which had a deteriorating effect on the cable. The crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by cable was viewed by the scientists involved in the guttapercha work as the ultimate test of the material. Locally made items of this material were brought to Europe from the Malay Peninsula and specimens were exhibited at the Royal Society of Arts in London in 1843. It was subsequently imported and used for various applications, including jewellery making. The discovery of a form of rubber called guttapercha in 1843 led to the manufacture of a suitable insulation by 1847. In 1845, the S. W. Silver & Co. of Stratford, East London, invented a means of extruding gutta-percha to cover wire (see picture below). Gutta-percha was the best cable insulation available and it was used to insulate the telegraph lines along the Great Western Railroad in 1843. The lines consisted of five copper conductor wires, covered with gutta-percha and supported in wooden blocks.

Dentistry
The same bioinertness property that made it suitable for marine cables also means it does not readily react within the human body, and consequently it is used for a variety of surgical devices and for dental applications during root canal therapy. It is the predominant material used to obturate, or fill the empty space inside the root of a tooth after it has undergoneendodontic therapy. Its physical and chemical properties, including but not limited to itsinertness and biocompatibility, melting point, ductility and malleability, afford it an important role in the field of endodontics.

Guayule and Hevea are different from Gutta-Percha:Parthenium argentatum, commonly known as the Guayule , is a flowering shrub in
theaster family, Asteraceae, that is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It can be found in the US states of New Mexico and Texas and the Mexican states of Zacatecas, Coahuila, Chihuahua, San Luis Potos, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas.[3][4] The plant can be used as an alternate source of latex that is also hypoallergenic, unlike the normal Hevea rubber. In pre-Columbian times, the guayule was a secondary source of latex for rubber, the principal source being the Castilla elastica tree. The name "guayule" derives from the Nahuatl word ulli/olli, "rubber".

Parthenium argentatum

Scientific classification Kingdom: (unranked): (unranked): (unranked): Order: Family: Genus: Species: Plantae Angiosperms Eudicots Asterids Asterales Asteraceae Parthenium P. argentatum Binomial name Parthenium argentatum

Range and habitat

For sustainable production, guayule grows well in arid and semi arid areas of the southwestern United States, North Central Mexico and regions with similar climates around the world. Because the guayule plant produces terpene resins, which are natural pesticides, it is resistant to many pests and diseases. Herbicides are primarily necessary for stand establishment.

Commercial rubber latex source

In the 1920s, the plant saw a brief and intense amount of agricultural research when the Intercontinental Rubber Company in California produced 1400 tons of rubber after leaf blight decimated the Brazilian rubber industry. Guayule would again become a replacement for Hevea treeproduced latex during World War II when Japan cut off America's Malaysianlatex resources. The war ended before large-scale farming of the guayule plant began, and the project was scrapped, as it was cheaper to import tree-derived latex than to crush the shrubs for a smaller amount of latex.

Recently, the guayule plant has seen a small but growing resurgence in research and agriculture due to its hypoallergenic properties. While Hevea-derived rubber contains proteins that can cause severe allergic reactions in a few people, guayule does not. With the AIDScrisis of the 1980s, the surge in rubber glove usage revealed how many people were allergic to latex (about 10% of health care workers, according to OSHA), and thereby created a niche market for guayule. There are synthetic alternatives for medical device products, but they are not as stretchable as natural rubber. Guayule performs like Hevea but contains none of the proteins that cause latex allergies.

Hypoallergenic properties
Breeding and production
Selection of high-yielding guayule is complicated by its breeding system, which is primarily apomixis (asexual cloning via gametes). However, the breeding system is somewhat variable and considerable genetic variation exists within wild populations. Selection of high-yielding lines has been successful.[5]

Medical devices
The company leading the commercialization of guayule as an industrial crop is Yulex Corporation, founded by Daniel R. Swiger. Yulex Corporation manufactures and produces guayule rubber for medical devices and specialty consumer products that are safe for people who have latex allergy. Yulex Corporation has cultivated proprietary, high-yielding lines of guayule with agricultural operations concentrated in Arizona as well as some operations in Queensland, Australia. Yulex rubber is marketed as a cost-effective, clinically proven solution to the serious health risks posed by Hevea-derived latex products. In April 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared for marketing the first device made from guayule latex, the Yulex Patient Examination Glove, which was submitted by Yulex Corporation.

Biofuel
Guayule's viability as a potential biofuel has been enhanced recently in light of commentary from a variety of experts, including Lester R. Brown of the Earth Policy Institute, stating that "[food based] biofuels pit the 800 million people with cars against the 800 million people with hunger problems," meaning that biofuels derived from food crops (like maize) raise world food prices. Guayule can be an economically viable biofuel crop that does not increase the world's hunger problem. Guayule has another benefit over food crops as biofuel - it can be grown in areas where food crops would fail.

Hevea
Hevea is a genus of flowering plants in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceous. It is also one of many names used commercially for the wood of the most economically important species H. brasiliensis.
Scientific classification Kingdom: (unranked): (unranked): (unranked): Order: Family: Subfamily: Tribe: Subtribe: Genus: Plantae Angiosperms Eudicots Rosids Malpighiales Euphorbiaceae Crotonoideae Micrandreae Heveinae Hevea
Aubl.

Hevea brasiliensis, the Par rubber tree, often simply called rubber tree, is
a tree belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae, and the most economically important member of the genus Hevea. It is of major economic importance because its sap-like extract (known aslatex) is the primary source of natural rubber.

Rubber tree plantation

In the wild, the tree can reach a height of up to 100 feet (30 m). The white or yellow latex occurs in latex vessels in the bark, mostly outside the phloem. These vessels spiral up the tree in a righthanded helixwhich forms an angle of about 30 degrees with the horizontal, and can grow as high as 45 ft. In plantations, the trees are kept smaller, up to 78 feet (24 m) tall, so as to use most of the availablecarbon dioxide for latex production. The tree requires a climate with heavy rainfall and without frost. If frost does occur, the results can be disastrous for production. One frost can cause the rubber from an entire plantation to become brittle and break once it has been refined.

Harvest of latex
Once the trees are 56 years old, harvesting can begin: incisions are made orthogonally to the latex vessels, just deep enough to tap the vessels without harming the tree's growth, and the sap is collected in small buckets. This process is known as rubber tapping. Older trees yield more latex.