Terpene in the context of "Α-pinene"

A resin is a solid or highly viscous liquid that can be converted into a polymer. Resins may be biological or synthetic in origin, but are typically harvested from plants. Resins are mixtures of organic compounds insoluble in water, predominantly terpenes. Technically, resins should not be confused with gums, which consist predominantly of water-soluble polysaccharides, although these two terms are often interchangeable in the less formal context. Common resins include pine oleoresins, amber, hashish, frankincense, myrrh and the animal-derived resin, shellac. Resins are used in varnishes, adhesives, food additives, incenses and perfumes.

Resins protect plants from insects and pathogens, and are secreted in response to injury. Resins repel herbivores, insects, and pathogens, while the volatile phenolic compounds may attract benefactors such as predators of insects that attack the plant.

Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including defense and protection against insects, fungi, diseases, against parasites and herbivorous mammals.

The earliest historical records of herbs are found from the Sumerian civilization, where hundreds of medicinal plants including opium are listed on clay tablets, c. 3000 BC. The Ebers Papyrus from ancient Egypt, c. 1550 BC, describes over 850 plant medicines. The Greek physician Dioscorides, who worked in the Roman army, documented over 1000 recipes for medicines using over 600 medicinal plants in De materia medica, c. 60 AD; this formed the basis of pharmacopoeias for some 1500 years. Drug research sometimes makes use of ethnobotany to search for pharmacologically active substances, and this approach has yielded hundreds of useful compounds. These include the common drugs aspirin, digoxin, quinine, and opium. The compounds found in plants are diverse, with most in four biochemical classes: alkaloids, glycosides, polyphenols, and terpenes. Few of these are scientifically confirmed as medicines or used in conventional medicine.

Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthine, terebenthene, terebinthine and, colloquially, turps) is a fluid obtainable by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Principally used as a specialized solvent, it is also a source of material for organic syntheses.

Turpentine is composed of terpenes, primarily the monoterpenes α-pinene and β-pinene, with lesser amounts of carene, camphene, limonene, and terpinolene. Nowadays, turpentine is rarely the product of distillation of pine resin, but is a byproduct of pulping. Pulping is achieved by two processes, the Kraft process and the sulfite process. The turpentines obtained from these two processes differ in their chemical compositions. The sulfite process gives a product that is rich in cymene, whereas the Kraft process gives a pinene-rich product.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a phytocannabinoid, one of 113 identified cannabinoids in Cannabis, along with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and accounts for up to 40% of the plant's extract. Medically, it is an anticonvulsant used to treat two rare forms of childhood epilepsy. It was discovered in 1940. Clinical research on CBD has included studies related to the treatment of anxiety, addiction, psychosis, movement disorders, and pain, but there is insufficient high-quality evidence that CBD is effective for these conditions. CBD is sold as an herbal dietary supplement and promoted with unproven claims of particular therapeutic effects.

Cannabidiol can be taken internally in multiple ways, including by inhaling cannabis smoke or vapor, swallowing it by mouth, and through use of an aerosol spray inside the cheek. It may be supplied as CBD oil containing only CBD as the active ingredient (excluding THC or terpenes), CBD-dominant hemp extract oil, capsules, dried cannabis, or prescription liquid solution. CBD does not have the same psychoactivity as THC, and can modulate the psychoactive effects of THC on the body if both are present. Conversion of CBD to THC can occur when CBD is heated to temperatures between 250–300 °C, potentially leading to its partial transformation into THC.

Tetraterpenes are terpenes consisting of eight isoprene units and have the molecular formula C₄₀H₆₄. Tetraterpenoids (including many carotenoids) are tetraterpenes that have been chemically modified, as indicated by the presence of oxygen-containing functional groups.

Phytoene is biosynthesized via the head-to-head condensation of two GGPP molecules. One group of tetraterpenes, and possibly the most studied one, is the carotenoids pigments. Carotenoids have important biological functions, with roles in light capture, antioxidative activity and protection against free radicals, synthesis of plant hormones and as structural components of the membranes. Aside their biological relevance, carotenoids are also high-value compounds for the food and pharmaceutical industries. Carotenoids are biosynthesized by photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic organisms; however, in photosynthetic organisms, they are essential components as accessory pigments for the light-harvesting reaction centers. Xanthophylls are another group of tetraterpene pigments distributed widely in nature.

The terpenoids, also known as isoprenoids, are a class of naturally occurring organic chemicals derived from the 5-carbon compound isoprene and its derivatives called terpenes, diterpenes, etc. While sometimes used interchangeably with "terpenes", terpenoids contain additional functional groups, usually containing oxygen. When combined with the hydrocarbon terpenes, terpenoids comprise about 80,000 compounds. They are the largest class of plant secondary metabolites, representing about 60% of known natural products. Many terpenoids have substantial pharmacological bioactivity and are therefore of interest to medicinal chemists.

Plant terpenoids are used for their aromatic qualities and play a role in traditional herbal remedies. Terpenoids contribute to the scent of eucalyptus, the flavors of cinnamon, cloves, and ginger, the yellow color in sunflowers, and the red color in tomatoes. Well-known terpenoids include citral, menthol, camphor, salvinorin A in the plant Salvia divinorum, ginkgolide and bilobalide found in Ginkgo biloba and the cannabinoids found in cannabis. The provitamin beta carotene is a terpene derivative called a carotenoid.

In the field of organic chemistry, a polycyclic compound is an organic compound featuring several closed rings of atoms, primarily carbon. These ring substructures include cycloalkanes, aromatics, and other ring types. They come in sizes of three atoms and upward, and in combinations of linkages that include tethering (such as in biaryls), fusing (edge-to-edge, such as in anthracene and steroids), links via a single atom (such as in spiro compounds), bridged compounds, and longifolene. Though poly- literally means "many", there is some latitude in determining how many rings are required to be considered polycyclic; many smaller rings are described by specific prefixes (e.g., bicyclic, tricyclic, tetracyclic, etc.), and so while it can refer to these, the title term is used with most specificity when these alternative names and prefixes are unavailable.

In general, the term polycyclic includes polycyclic aromatic compounds, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, as well as heterocyclic aromatic compounds with multiple rings (where heteroaromatic compounds are aromatic compounds that contain sulfur, nitrogen, oxygen, or another non-carbon atoms in their rings in addition to carbon).