Chemical Properties
Pale yellow powder with extremely bitter taste. One of the bitter components is Quassin (C2H28O6), which can form flaky crystals in dilute methanol solution, with a melting point of 222 ℃, and a bitterness threshold of 1:60,000. The bitterness of the commercially available product is about 60 times that of quinine. Jamaica and other production of "Jamaica bitter tree" (Picrasma excelsa) Brazil and other production of bitter wood (Quassia amara) and Colombia, Panama, the West Indies produced by the bitter wood family (Simaroubaceae) plant bark and so on are contained.
Definition
Extractives and their physically modified derivatives such as tinctures, concretes, absolutes, essential oils, oleoresins, terpenes, terpene-free fractions, distillates, residues, etc., obtained from Quassia, Simaroubaceae.
