Asarylic aldehyde

Asarylic aldehyde, C oH,204, is present in calamus oil, and also results from the oxidation of asarone. It has the constitution—... 

Asarylic aldehyde is a crystalline body melting at 114°, and yields asaric acid on oxidation, which melts at 144°. 

By oxidation asarone yields asarylic aldehyde, CgH2(CHO)(OCH3)g, melting at 114°, and finally asarylic acid, CgH2(COOH)(OCH3)3, melting at 144°. This acid is, of course, identical with trimethoxy-benzoic acid. 

Eykman (Ber. 1889, 22, 3172) concluded from an optical examination of a mixture of asarone and safrole that the former is a propenyl and not an allyl derivative, and the constitution of asarone was finally determined by Gattermann and Eggers (Ber. 1899, 32, 289) by synthesizing asarylic aldehyde (ii) from 1 2 4-trimethoxybenzene and then heating this aldehyde with propionic anhydride and sodium propionate, when asarone (iii) was obtained in a yield of 60 per cent. Asarone melts at 62-63° and boils at 296°, specific gravity at 18°, 1.165. 

Thoms and Beckstroem isolated -heptylic acid, palmitic acid, an. unrecognised unsaturated acid, eugenol, and asarylic aldehyde. There is also present a body of the formula Cj5H 02 melting at 128 , which was termed calamus camphor by Schimmel Co., but has been named calameone by Thoms and Beckstroem. There are present two hydrocarbons of the formula Ci Hj] having the following c racters —... 

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