Estragole

In the case of sweet basil, Ocimwn basilicum, Charabot and Hubert have examined the essential oils distilled from plants which had been cultivated in full light and from those kept shaded from the light. Jn the former case the oil contained 57 3 per cent, of estragol and 42 7 per cent, of terpene compounds, whilst in the case of the shaded plants the estragol had risen tO 74 2per cent, and the terpene compounds fell to 25 8 per cent. 

Like most phenols, it gives an intense blue colour with solution of ferric chloride. By heating it with alcoholic potash and methyl iodide it is converted into methyl-chavicol or estragol, the characteristic constituent of tarragon oil. 

Estragol, or methyl-chavicol, Cj(,H,.,0, is a constituent of tarragon, anise-bark, bay, fennel, and other essential oils. It is a strongly odorous liquid having the following characters —... 

This reaction serves as a means of identification of estragol. If it be heated for twenty-four hours on the water-bath, with three times its volume of a saturated alcoholic solution of potash, it. is converted into anethol, which, after drying and recrystallisation from petroleum ether, melts at 22°, and boils at 232° to 233°. 

Differences in alkaloid composition between samples of Z dipetalum from different islands have also been reported (Arslanian et al., 1990). These workers found that a tree from Oahu (anethole/estragole chemotype) lacked thalicitrine [546] (see Fig. 6.5), whereas a tree from Kauai and one from Hawaii (both 2-undecanone/2-tridecanone chemotype) possessed the compound. 

Estragole (35), methyleugenol (36), and safrole (37) occur naturally in various herbs and spices and are approved favor additives. 154,155 jjigse compounds are... 

D. H. Phillips, DNA adducts Identification and biological significance, in DNA Adducts Derived From Safrole, Estragole and Related Compounds, and From Benzene and Its Metabolites, Vol. 125 (Eds. K. Hemminki, A. Dipple, D. E. G. Shuker, F. F. Kadlubar, D. Segerback, H. Bartsch). lARC Scientific Publications, Lyon, 1994, P 131. 

Epoxypropane, p232 Estragole, a89 Ethanal, a4 Ethanamide, a6 Ethanamidine HC1, a7... 

Miller JA, Miller EC. The metabolic activation and nucleic acid adducts of naturally-occurring carcinogens recent results with ethyl carbamate and the spice flavors safrole and estragole. Br J Cancer 1983 48(1) 1-15. 

Anethole can be crystallized from oils in which it occurs as a major component (star anise and sweet fennel oils), and estragole containing oils (e.g., basilicum oil). 

Another fraction of American sulfate turpentine oil (1% of the total) consists essentially of an azeotropic mixture of estragole (l-methoxy-4-allylbenzene / lOi.SkPa 216 °C) and a-terpineol. Treatment with potassium hydroxide yields a mixture of anethole isomers and a-terpineol, which can be separated by fractional distillation. 

Basil oil, methylchavicol-type (Reunion type, exotic type) is obtained by steam distillation of the flowering tops or whole plants of Ocimum basilicum L. (Lamiaceae). This oil is produced mainly in Reunion, the Comores, Madagascar, and the Seychelles. It is a light yellow liquid with a fresh, green, spicy odor characteristic of methylchavicol (estragole) [140-67-0]. 

Estragole is the main constituent of tarragon oil (68—80%) and primarily determines the sensory properties [786-788]. 

Basil (Euro- Ocimum basilicum L. Linalool (45-62), estragol... 

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