Camphor And Camphor Oil

Camphor oil is an important commodity for many  people. The Chinese especially use it for  particularly medicinal purposes.

Properties

The therapeutic properties of camphor oil are:-

• antifungal,
• analgesic,
• antidepressant,
• anti-inflammatory,
• antiseptic,
• carminative,
• diuretic,
• febrifuge,
• hypertensive,
• insecticidal,
• laxative,
• rubefacient,
• stimulant,
• sudorific,
• vermifuge,
• vulnerary   

See (Deng et al.,  2005; Pragadheesh et al., 2013).

Camphor oil is also used to destroy poultry lice (Khater et al.,  2014).

Encapsulated Camphor Oil

Chang et al., (2006) encapsulated camphor oil using gelatin-GA microcapsules prepared by complex coacervation to achieve an encapsulation efficiency of 99.6 wt% at an optimal oil/wall volume ratio of 0.75 and found that the sustained oil release amount and the release rate depended on the quantity of added polystyrene.

References

Chang, C.P., Leung, T.K., Lin, S.M., Hsu, C.C. (2006) Release properties on gelatin-gum arabic microcapsules containing camphor oil with added polystyrene. Colloid Surf B-Biointerfaces 50 pp. 136–40.

Deng, C.H., Yao, N., Wang, A.Q., Zhang, X.M. (2005) Determination of essential oil in a traditional Chinese medicine, Fructus amomi by pressurized hot
water extraction followed by liquid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Anal Chim Acta 536 pp. 237–44

Pragadheesh, V.S., Saroj, A., Yadav, A., Chanotiya, C.S., Alam, M., Samad, A. (2013) Chemical characterization and antifungal activity of Cinnamomum
camphora essential oil. Industrial Crops Products 49 pp. 628–33.