Thuja

Essential oils are isolated from various plant parts, such as leaves (patchouH), fmit (mandarin), bark (cinnamon), root (ginger), grass (citroneUa), wood (amyris), heartwood (cedar), gum (myrrh oil), balsam (tolu balsam oil), berries (pimento), seeds (diU), flowers (rose), twigs and leaves (thuja oil), and buds (cloves). 

Table 32. Range of Composition for Primary Components of Thuja Oil ...

The oil dad rhe characteristic odour of thuja leaf oil, dun to the pre-Eenei of a seir uiir rpeQe the specilic pravit,v was O dO Ll the index o[ refraction, T47Q7 and the specific rolation, — -h 19-26A... 

Thujyl alcohol, Cj Hj OH, occurs in the oils of wormwood and thuja leaves, etc., and also results from the reduction of its ketone, thujone, by means of sodium. It is identical with the body originally described by Semmler under the name tanacetyl alcohol. 

Fenchone, Cj Hj O, is found in fennel oil and in the oil of Lavandula Stoechas, in its deirtro-rotatory form, and as laevo-fenchone in oil of thuja leaves. It can be extracted from these oils by treating the fraction boiling at 190° to 195° with nitric acid, or permar anate of potassium, and then steam distilling the unaltered fenchone. 

This ketone, of the formula Cj H O, isomeric with those above described, is found in the oils of thuja, tansy, wormwood, and sage. It is identical with the bodies formerly described under the names tan-acetone and salvone. It is best prepared in a state of purity from oil of wormwood. According to Semmler, 200 c.c. of the oil, 0 c.c. of a saturated solution of sodium bisulphite, 75 c.c. of water, and 300 c.c. of alcohol are well shaken at intervals during a fortnight. The crystals formed, consisting of the compound of thujone with the sodium bisulphite, are separated, washed with alcohol-ether, and pressed. On treatment with caustic soda solution, the thujone, amounting to over 40 per cent, of the oil used, separates, and can be distilled with steam. 

The hitherto unanswered question whether the chemically identical thujonas isolated from various essential oils are also physically identical, or whether they are physically isomeric, has now been decided by Wallach in the last-named sense. He has succeeded in establishing the presence of two and possibly of three thujones, although with regard to the third the more probable view is, that it represents a mixture of the other two. His examination has, moreover, proved that thuja oil contains essentially... 

Thymohydroquinone.CjdHj Oj, is a constituent of the essential oils of Callitris quadrivalvis, Monarda fistulosa, and Thuja articulata. It is a crystalline compound melting at 143° and boiling at 290°, or at 130° at 6 mm. pressure. Its constitution is—... 

Mention has already been made of the fact that thujone and fenchone do not react with sodium sulphite consequently the method is useless for tansy, thuja, wormseed, and fennel oils. 

Thrane,/. tear. For compounds see Tranen-. Thujaol, n. thuja oil. thun, v.t. i. tun. 

Fig. 3.5 Compounds 273-275, terpenes from Thuja plicata. Compounds 276 and 277, sesquiterpenes from Ambrosia psilostachya...

Chan-Yeung, M., Giclas, PC., and Henson, P.M., Activation of complement by plicatic acid, the chemical compound responsible for asthma due to western red cedar (Thuja plicata), J. Allergy Clin Immunol., 65, 333, 1980. 

APRICOT (Prunus armeniaca L.) Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Britt ARBORVTTAE (Thuja orientalis L.)... 

Fujita M, Gang DR, Davin LB et al (1999) Recombinant pinoresinol-lariciresinol reductases from western red cedar Thuja plicatd) catalyze opposite enantiospecific conversions. J Biol Chem 274 618-627... 

Chan-Yeung M, et al Occupational asthma and rhinitis due to Western red cedar (Thuja plicata). Am Rev Respir Dis 108 1094-1102, 1973... 

Michel R. Briejer, PhD, DipPharMed Investment Director, Thuja Capital B.V., Yalelaan40, 3584 CM Utrecht, The Netherlands... 

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