Tannin: A New Insight into a Key Product for the Bioeconomy in Forest Regions

Abstract

Owing its name to the Latin word tannum for “oak bark”, tannin is the name of a class of oligomeric polyphenolic compounds widely employed in the leather, wine, food and beverage, chemical, cosmetic, pharmaceutical and mining industries [1]. Tannin is a key raw material of the leather industry because its biophenols combine with collagen and other proteins contained in animal skin to form insoluble compounds, transforming it into chemically and biologically stable leather due to the inhibition of proteolytic enzymes.