Propenyl-trimethoxy-benzene

Acorus calamus (calamus root, sweet flag, rat root, sweet sedge, flag root, sweet calomel, sweet myrtle, sweet cane, sweet rush, beewort, muskrat root, pine root) contains several active constituents called asar-ones. The basic structure is 2,4,5-trimethoxy-l-propenyl-benzene, which is related to the hallucinogen 3,4-methylenedioxyphenylisopropylamine (MDA). The amounts of the asarones in calamus rhizomes vary considerably with the botanical variety. For example, there are high concentrations in triploid calamus from Eastern Europe but none detectable in the diploid North American variety. 

Derivation By steam distillation of calamus, the stem or root of the sweet flag. Chief known constituents are asarone (see 2,4,5-trimethoxy-1-propenyl-benzene) and eugenol. 

Phenylpropanoid-type compounds have been isolated as the algal inhibitory constituents from the aquatic plant Acorus gramineus [92] using a filter paper-dish bioassay. It was noted that 1,2-dimethoxy-4-(E-3 -methyloxiranyl) benzene (10), l,2,4-trimethoxy-5-(Z-l -propenyl)benzene (11), l,2,4-trimethoxy-5-(E-3 methyloxiranyl)benzene (12), the three most abundant phenylpropanes isolated, were either inhibitory or not in each of the cyanobacterial strains tested which included Anabaena flos-aquae, Nostoc commune, and Synechococcus leopoliensis. 

ASARONES MerckIndex ii S49 11 861 see PIHKAL No. 157, tma] i,2,4-trimethoxy-5-(i-propenyl)-benzene asarin asarum camphor asarabacca camphor Asaron... 

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