SandalWood Oil : Chemical Constituents and Uses

Source and Distribution of SandalWood Tree:

Sandalwood oil is obtained by distillation from the heart wood of Santalum album of the family Santalaceae. It is also called as East Indian Sandal Wood oil.

English: White or East Indian Sandalwood or Chandan Santalum album in Hyderabad , India. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The sandalwood plant is an evergreen plant with a height of 10-12m and is found in India and Malaysia. It is widely distributed in India. In India it is cultivated in the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. For extracting the oil, the plants are uprooted and the bark is removed and is cut to small pieces and subjected to steam distillation. The oil is pale yellow to colourless viscid liquid. It has unpleasant taste.

Chemical constituents of SandalWood Oil :

Sandal wood contains two isomeric sesquiterpene alcohols like alpha santalol and beta santalol. It also contains santalal, santene, santenone, teresantol, santalone and santalene. The oil is present in wood and not in any special types of cells or glands.

Uses of SandalWood Oil:

• Used for the symptomatic treatment of dysurea
• Diminishes the frequency of micturition marked in the tuberculosis of bladder.
• Its main use is as a perfume in the preparation of cosmetics and incense sticks.

Substitutes for the Sandal Wood oil :

Sandalwood oil is substituted by the oil obtained from the wood of the plant Eucarya spicata which is found in Western Australia. It is known as Australian sandal wood oil. It contains fusanols. As this oil is very costly, it is adulterated with the fixed oils. West Indian Sandalwood oil is obtained from Amyris balsamifera of the family Rutaceae and is used as a substitute. Sandalwood oil is stored in well closed, well filled containers away from light and in cool place.

Synonyms of Sandalwood :

• Bengali – Chandan
• Hindi – Safedchandan
• Kannada – Chandana
• Malayalam – Chandnam
• Marathi – Chandan
• Tamil – Ingam
• Telugu – Chandanamu