☯ TCM Properties
Moves Qi and Alleviates Pain; Disperses Cold and warms the Middle Jiao; Regulates Qi Flow in the Chest, Abdomen and Lower Body; Harmonizes the Stomach and Stops Vomiting
Traditional Chinese Uses
Tan Xiang (sandalwood) is a warm, aromatic herb that moves Qi and warms the middle burner. It relieves chest pain and angina from Qi and Blood stagnation, eases stomach cold with pain and vomiting, and dispels cold in the chest and epigastrium. As a fragrant wood with both physical and cultural associations, it is used in medicinal formulas for cold-type chest pain and appears in aromatic preparations for calming the Shen.
Western Herbalism Properties
Botanical Description
Santalum album, the Indian or true sandalwood, is a small evergreen hemiparasitic tree in the family Santalaceae, native to the dry deciduous forests of peninsular India, Sri Lanka, and parts of Indonesia, and cultivated in southern China, Australia, and other tropical regions. Trees reach 8–15 m with smooth grey-brown to reddish bark, slender pendulous branches, and opposite ovate-elliptic leaves 4–8 cm long with a leathery glaucous undersurface. The plant attaches by haustoria to the roots of various host plants for water and minerals. Small purplish-brown flowers in axillary and terminal panicles give rise to globose drupes about 1 cm across. The medicinal substance, Tan Xiang, is the fragrant yellow to yellow-brown heartwood of mature trunks and large roots, harvested by uprooting the tree, stripping the pale unscented sapwood, and cutting the densely santalol-rich heartwood into chips or grinding to powder. In traditional Chinese medicine sandalwood is acrid, aromatic, and warm, moving Qi to relieve chest, epigastric, and abdominal pain from cold stagnation.
Active Constituents
alpha-Santalol
Sesquiterpene alcoholConcentration: approx. 41-55% of the essential oil
The principal odorant and bioactive constituent of sandalwood oil. Shows anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative and chemopreventive activity, inhibits tyrosinase and cholinesterase in vitro, and has documented central nervous system depressant (sedative) effects in animal models.
beta-Santalol
Sesquiterpene alcoholConcentration: approx. 16-24% of the essential oil
Second most abundant sesquiterpenol. Contributes to the characteristic aroma and, together with alpha-santalol, accounts for much of the anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and CNS-sedative activity of the oil. ISO 3518 quality standards specify minimum alpha- plus beta-santalol content for genuine S. album oil.
epi-beta-Santalol
Sesquiterpene alcoholConcentration: approx. 3-5% of the essential oil
Minor santalol isomer; contributes to the total santalol fraction (alpha-, beta-, epi-beta-santalol plus alpha-exo-bergamotol make up roughly 90% of the oil) that defines the oil's quality and anti-inflammatory activity.
alpha-exo-Bergamotol (alpha-trans-bergamotol)
Sesquiterpene alcoholConcentration: approx. 4-7% of the essential oil
One of the four dominant sesquiterpenols of the oil. Part of the oxygenated sesquiterpene fraction responsible for the material's fixative aroma and biological activity.
alpha-Santalene and beta-Santalene
Sesquiterpene hydrocarbonsConcentration: approx. 3-6% combined
Hydrocarbon biosynthetic precursors of the santalols, produced by santalene synthase and hydroxylated by CYP76F cytochromes P450 to form the santalols. Present in small amounts in the distilled oil.
Santalic acid and teresantalic acid
Sesquiterpenoid acidsConcentration: trace
Minor acidic sesquiterpenoids of the heartwood contributing to the overall phytochemical profile; not major drivers of the reported bioactivity.
⚠ Drug Interactions
CNS depressants (benzodiazepines, barbiturates, sedatives, alcohol)
alpha- and beta-santalol have demonstrated central nervous system depressant and sedative activity in rodent models (reduced motility, potentiation of hypnotics). Concurrent use with pharmaceutical sedatives could, in theory, produce additive drowsiness, though no human interaction reports exist for the small amounts used in TCM decoctions.
Clinical note: No clinically confirmed interactions are documented for internal medicinal use of sandalwood. Use ordinary caution when combining with sedating drugs.
Dosage
| Form | Amount | Frequency | Duration | Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| decoction | 3-9g | Daily | — | — | — |
Preparation Methods
Decoction (added near the end of boiling)
Parts: Heartwood
Typical adult dose is 2-5 g of the shaved or powdered heartwood. Because the active volatile oils are lost with prolonged heating, Tan Xiang is added late to a decoction (hou xia). It is often powdered and taken as a draft or added to pills and powders to move Qi in the chest and epigastrium and to warm the Middle Jiao.
Powder / infusion for aromatic use
Parts: Heartwood
Finely powdered heartwood (0.5-2 g) is stirred into warm water or added to formulas. The distilled essential oil is used topically in dermatology, not internally in TCM practice.
Conservation and sourcing note
Parts: Heartwood
IMPORTANT: Santalum album is assessed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and is heavily affected by over-exploitation and illegal logging; harvest and trade of Indian sandalwood are legally restricted in India and other range states. Use only certified, legally and sustainably sourced heartwood. Where sandalwood is scarce or restricted, practitioners may substitute other Qi-moving, Middle-warming herbs (e.g. Mu Xiang / Aucklandia, Sha Ren / Amomum, Ding Xiang / clove) per formula intent rather than using wild-harvested or unverified material.
Clinical Studies
East Indian Sandalwood Oil (EISO) Alleviates Inflammatory and Proliferative Pathologies of Psoriasis
Treatment of psoriatic tissue and keratinocytes with S. album (East Indian sandalwood) oil produced dose-dependent suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines (including IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-related mediators) and reduced keratinocyte hyperproliferation, supporting topical sandalwood oil as an anti-inflammatory agent in inflammatory skin disease.
Effect of alpha-santalol and beta-santalol from sandalwood on the central nervous system in mice
alpha- and beta-santalol administered to mice produced dose-dependent central depressant effects, decreasing spontaneous locomotor activity and prolonging barbiturate-induced sleeping time, providing a pharmacological basis for the traditional use of sandalwood as a calming/sedative agent.
Historical Texts
Ri Hua Zi Ben Cao (Rihuazi's Materia Medica)
Song dynasty, c. 10th centuryBen Cao Gang Mu (Compendium of Materia Medica), Li Shizhen
Ming dynasty, 1578References
- Moy RL, Levenson C. Sandalwood Album Oil as a Botanical Therapeutic in Dermatology . Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology 10(10):34-39 (2017) [DOI]
- Bommareddy A, Brozena S, Steigerwalt J, et al.. Medicinal properties of alpha-santalol, a naturally occurring constituent of sandalwood oil: review . Natural Product Research (2019) [DOI]
- Diaz-Chavez ML, Moniodis J, Madilao LL, et al.. Biosynthesis of Sandalwood Oil: Santalum album CYP76F Cytochromes P450 Produce Santalols and Bergamotol . PLoS ONE 8(9):e75053 (2013) [DOI]
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
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