Ambergris

Ambergris (Ambra grisea, Ambre gris, ambergrease, or grey amber) is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull grey or blackish color, with the shades being variegated like marble. It possesses a peculiar sweet, earthy odor similar to isopropyl alcohol. Now largely replaced by synthetics, it is still used as a fixative in perfumery. Image File history File links Ambergris. ... Image File history File links Ambergris. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Venus de Milo, front. ... Isopropyl alcohol (also isopropanol or rubbing alcohol) is a common name for propan-2-ol, a colorless, flammable chemical compound with a strong odor. ... A fixative is a liquid, similar to varnish, which is usually sprayed over a finished piece of artwork to better preserve it and prevent smudging. ... For the book Perfume by Patrick Süskind, see Perfume (book). ...

Ambergris was also molded, dried, decorated and worn as jewelry, particularly during the Renaissance. It was often formed into beads.

It has also been used as a flavouring in food, and the favourite dish of King Charles II of England is said to have been eggs and ambergris.

[edit] Source

Ambergris occurs as a biliary secretion of the intestines of the sperm whale, and can be found floating upon the sea, or in the sand near the coast. Because giant squids' beaks have been found embedded within lumps of ambergris, scientists have theorized that the whale's intestine produces the substance as a means of facilitating the passage of hard, sharp objects that the whale might have inadvertently eaten. Ambergris can be found in the Atlantic Ocean; on the coasts of Brazil and Madagascar; also on the coast of Africa, of the East Indies, The Maldives, mainland China, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand and the Molucca islands. However, most commercially collected ambergris came from the Bahama Islands, Providence Island, etc. It is also sometimes found in the abdomens of whales. X-Ray of the bile duct during a laprascopic cholecystectomy A bile duct is any of a number of long tube-like structures that carry bile. ... Secretion is the process of segregating, elaborating, and releasing chemicals from a cell, or a secreted chemical substance or amount of substance. ... The intestine is the portion of the alimentary canal extending from the stomach to the anus and, in humans and other mammals, consists of two segments, the small intestine and the large intestine. ... Binomial name Linnaeus, 1758 Sperm Whale range (in blue) The Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest of all toothed whales and is the largest toothed animal alive, measuring up to 18 metres (60 ft) long. ... This article is about the animal. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... The Indies, on the display globe of the Field Museum, Chicago The Indies or East Indies (or East India) is a term used to describe lands of South and South-East Asia, occupying all of the former British India, the present Indian Union, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and... The Republic of Maldives is a country consisting territorially of a group of atolls in the Indian Ocean, south-southwest of India. ... ... Maluku redirects here. ... The Commonwealth of The Bahamas is an independent English_speaking nation in the West Indies. ... (This article is about the island in the Bahamas. ... The abdomen is a part of the body. ... This article is about the animal. ...

[edit] Physical properties

Ambergris is found in lumps of various shapes and sizes, weighing from ½ oz (14 g) to 100 or more pounds (45.36 or more kg). When initially expelled by or removed from the whale, the fatty precursor of ambergris is pale white in color (sometimes streaked with black), soft in consistency, with a strong fecal smell. Following months to years of photo-degradation and oxidation in the ocean, this precursor gradually hardens, developing a dark gray or black color, a crusty and waxy texture, and a peculiar odor that is at once sweet, earthy, marine, and animalic. Its smell has been described by many as a vastly richer and smoother version of isopropanol without its stinging harshness. The ounce (abbreviation: oz) is the name of a unit of mass in a number of different systems, including various systems of mass that form part of English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... BIC pen cap, about 1 gram. ... The pound or pound-mass (abbreviations: lb, lbm, or sometimes in the United States, #) is a unit of mass (sometimes called weight in everyday parlance) in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... “Kg” redirects here. ... Photo-degradation is degradation by means of radiant energy such as light. ... The most fundamental reactions in chemistry are the redox processes. ... Isopropyl alcohol or isopropanol is a common name for 2-propanol, an alcohol commonly used for application to the skin, and popularly referred to as rubbing alcohol. ...

In this developed condition, ambergris has a specific gravity ranging from 0.780 to 0.926. It melts at about 62 °C to a fatty, yellow resinous liquid; and at 100 °C it is volatilized into a white vapor. It is soluble in ether, and in volatile and fixed oils. Ambergris is relatively nonreactive to acid. White crystals of a substance called ambrein, can be separated from ambergris by heating raw ambergris in alcohol then allowing the resulting solution to cool. Relative density (also known as specific gravity) is a measure of the density of a material. ... This article describes degree as a unit of temperature. ... Celsius is, or relates to, the Celsius temperature scale (previously known as the centigrade scale). ... This article is about the chemical compound. ... For other uses, see Acid (disambiguation). ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

[edit] Replacement compounds and economics

Historically, the primary commercial use of ambergris has been in fragrance chemistry, although it has also been used for medicinal and flavoring purposes. Ambergris has historically been an important perfume odorant and is highly sought. However, it is difficult to get a consistent and reliable supply of high quality ambergris. Due to demand for ambergris and its high price, replacement compounds have been sought out by the fragrance industry and chemically synthesized. The most important of these is ambrox, which has largely taken its place and is the most widely used ambergris-replacement odorant in perfume manufacture. The oldest and most commercially significant synthesis of ambrox is from sclareol (primarily extracted from clary sage), although syntheses have been devised from a variety of other natural products, including cis-abienol and thujone. Procedures for the microbial production of ambrox have also been devised.^[1] Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils and aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents used to give the human body, objects, and living spaces a pleasant smell. ... Medicine is the science and art of maintaining andor restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of patients. ... Flavouring (or flavoring) is a product which is added to food in order to change or augment its taste. ... In chemistry, chemical synthesis is purposeful execution of chemical reactions in order to get a product, or several products. ... Binomial name Salvia sclarea L. ref. ... Thujone is a ketone and a monoterpene that exists in two stereoisomeric forms: (+)-3-thujone or α-thujone and (-)-3-thujone or β-thujone. ...

Raw ambergris fetches approximately US$10 per gram (as of 2006), with much higher prices possible for particularly high-quality samples.^[2][3] In the United States, importing, buying, or selling ambergris — including ambergris that has washed ashore — was considered a violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972.^[4] However, in 2001 this ruling was overturned, and ambergris was deemed not to be a byproduct of the whaling industry, since the whale expels this substance naturally. There is currently no prohibition in the buying and selling of ambergris in the United States. The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 prohibits, with certain exceptions, the take of marine mammals in U.S. waters and by U.S. citizens on the high seas, and the importation of marine mammals and marine mammal products into the U.S. Congress defines take as “harass, hunt, capture...

[edit] Myths

During the Black Death in Europe, the people believed that carrying a ball of ambergris could help prevent them from getting the plague. This was because the fragrance covered the smell of the air which was believed to be the cause of plague. This article concerns the mid fourteenth century pandemic. ...

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Look up Ambergris in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• University of Miami Ambergris FAQ (out dated info)
• Natural History Magazine Article: Floating Gold -- The Romance of Ambergris
• Ambergris - A Pathfinder and Annotated Bibliography
• On the chemistry and ethics of Ambergris

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