Naftalan oil is a thick, black- fulvous or brown liquid, which outwardly looks similar to mineral oils. The particular characteristic of naftalan oil is its high specific gravity (from 0.927 to 0.970). It’s caused by low light fractions content (which can be up to 50% in other mineral oils) as well as high content of naphthenetic and aromatic hydrocarbons and tars.
The basic active substance of naftalan oil is naphthenetic hydrocarbons. Naphthenetic hydrocarbons are basic components of many biologically active substances such as sterols, bile acids, vitamin D, and progesterone. They take part in biosynthesis of steroid hormones in adrenal cortex, stimulating body’s adaptive-compensatory function. In addition to that, there are a lot of physiologically active trace elements (such as zinc, boron, manganese, iodine, copper, lithium, rubidium, cobalt, molybdenum and others) have been found in naftalan oil. |
