CopaibaCopaifera

Did you know?

• Copaiba is not strictly an oil. It is an oleoresin: resin acids dissolved in the tree's own volatile oil^{[2, 3]}.

• In 1980 Melvin Calvin, who won the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on how plants take in carbon dioxide, wrote that tapped Copaifera trees yield a diesel-like oil that could be used directly in a diesel-powered car^{[4, 6]}.

• The reality is more modest. Yields vary from about 100 milliliters to 60 liters a year, many trees give none, and in one study in the eastern Brazilian Amazon the trees that did yield averaged about a quarter of a liter at first tapping^{[3, 5]}.

• The name copaíba probably comes from Tupi-Guarani, from the Indigenous names copaíva and copahu^[3].

• The genus is mostly American, but a few species grow in West Africa and one on the island of Borneo, and Brazil alone has more than 20^{[2, 3]}.

• In the United States, copaiba is on the FDA's list of natural flavoring substances that may be used in food^[9].

Origins and history

Copaifera trees grow across the tropics of Central and South America^{[1, 2, 3]}. Their oleoresin builds up inside the trunk, in the inner heartwood^[5]. To collect it, harvesters drill a hole into the trunk of a standing tree and let the oleoresin run out into a container^{[3, 5, 7]}. The tree is not cut down, and how much it gives depends on the species, the tree's size and the individual tree^{[3, 5]}.

Sixteenth-century chroniclers of Brazil's colonization reported that its Indigenous peoples were already using copaiba widely^[3], and folk tradition both applies it to the skin and takes it by mouth^{[2, 3]}. The naturalists Marcgraf and Piso first described the genus, under the name "Copaiba", in 1638, and Linnaeus later gave the type species its botanical name, Copaifera officinalis^{[1, 3]}. The oleoresin became an article of trade. It went into varnishes, paints and lacquers^{[2, 3, 7]}, served as a fixative in perfumes and scented soaps^[3], and has been used in photographic processing, paper making and the production of synthetic rubber^[3]. Today it appears in soaps, lotions, creams, shampoos and hair conditioners^[3]. "Copaiba" covers several species: the most important commercial sources are C. langsdorffii, C. officinalis and C. reticulata^{[2, 3]}.

Copaiba's most surprising chapter is as a fuel. Melvin Calvin's 1980 report described it as a diesel-like oil that the trees produce ready-made^[4]. Experimental plantations were started near Manaus, Brazil, in the early 1980s to test it as an alternative to fossil fuels, and researchers have looked at blending it with diesel^[3]. That is how C. langsdorffii came to be called the diesel tree^[7]. Field studies have tempered the story: few trees come near 40 liters a year, and many give little or nothing^{[3, 5, 7]}.

Traditional uses

Clinical studies of copaiba in people are still few, but its traditional use is rich: Amazonian and Brazilian folk tradition applies it to the skin and also takes it by mouth^{[2, 3]}.

• Skin care

  Copaiba has long been applied to the skin in the Amazon, and today it goes into soaps, creams and lotions. Copaiba moisturizes and conditions the skin.*^[3]

• A healthy inflammatory response

  In Brazilian folk practice copaiba is also taken by mouth. Taken internally, copaiba supports a healthy inflammatory response.*^{[2, 3]}

• A natural fixative

  In perfumery, copaiba helps a fragrance last, which is why it has long been used in scented soaps.^[3]

Plant compounds

Copaiba oleoresin has two parts. The volatile part is made mostly of sesquiterpenes, and beta-caryophyllene is usually the main one, alongside alpha-copaene and others^{[2, 3]}. The heavier resin part is made of diterpene acids, such as copalic, kaurenoic and polyalthic acids^{[2, 3]}. The mix varies from species to species and from tree to tree^[3].