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What is Gum Rosin?

   Gum Rosin

   Rosin, also called colophony or Greek pitch (Latin: pix græca), is a solid form of resin obtained from pines and some other plants, mostly conifers, produced by heating fresh liquid resin to vaporize the volatile liquid terpene components. It is semi-transparent and varies in color from yellow to black. At room temperature rosin is brittle, but it melts at stove-top temperature. It chiefly consists of various resin acids, especially abietic acid. The term "colophony" comes from colophonia resina, Latin for "resin from Colophon", an ancient Ionic city.

   Uses

   Rosin is extensively used for its friction-increasing capacity in several fields:

• ·        Players of bowed string instruments rub cakes or blocks of rosin on their bow hair so it can grip the strings and make them speak, or vibrate clearly
• ·        Gymnasts and team handball players use it to improve grip. Rock climbers have used it in some locations, but it fouls the rock, so usage is now highly discouraged.
• ·        Olympic weightlifters rub the soles of their weightlifting boots in rosin to improve traction on the platform.
• ·        It is applied onto the starting line of drag racing courses used to improve traction.
• ·        Bull riders rub rosin on their rope and glove for additional grip.
• ·        Baseball pitchers and ten-pin bowlers may use a small cloth bag of powdered rosin for better ball control.
• ·        An etching plate covered with powder resin

   Other uses are not based on friction:

·        In a printmaking technique, aquatint rosin is used on the etching plate in order to create surfaces in gray tones.

·        Rosin is sometimes used as an ingredient in dubbing wax used in fly tying.

·        Rosin is used hot to de-encapsulate epoxy integrated circuits

·        Rosin can be mixed with beeswax and a small amount of linseed oil to affix reeds to reed blocks in accordions.

·        Rosin potatoes can be cooked by dropping potatoes into boiling rosin and cooking until they float to the surface.

Pharmaceutical

   Rosin and its derivatives also exhibit wide-ranging pharmaceutical applications. Rosin derivatives show excellent film forming and coating properties. They are also used for tablet film and enteric coating purpose. Rosins have also been used to formulate microcapsules and nanoparticles.

   Glycerol, sorbitol, and mannitol esters of rosin are used as chewing gum bases for medicinal applications. The degradation and biocompatibility of rosin and rosin-based biomaterials has been examined in vitro and ex vivo.