Author Topic: Juniper Sp. & Safrole  (Read 146 times)

Vesp

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Juniper Sp. & Safrole
« on: February 08, 2010, 05:44:00 AM »
It is well known that the J. Virginia or whatever its called kind has ~11% Safrole, and another 6-7% isosafrole, but what about all of the other types of Junipers?
This link, makes it sound like the J. scopulorum also contains safrole, but I can't find the concentration or what other compounds it is with.

 "Junipers (Juniperus virginiana, Juniperus scopulorum)"

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache%3Aqzlv37dHeTgJ%3Alegacy.library.ucsf.edu%3A8080%2Fr%2Fc%2Fy%2Frcy30e00%2FSrcy30e00.pdf+Juniperus+scopulorum+sasfrole&hl=en&gl=us&sig=AHIEtbQKQWwBOHpxJ8qam9o9gD4Kq41b2A&pli=1



This may be better off on the short questions thread, but I figured maybe this would also lead to interesting conversation...

Here is a list of some of the species, and where they are located... http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=JUNIP

I can't read the second one down,... but it makes it sound like it does contain it to some extent.
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&safe=off&ei=DZtvS8OoBYyKNq2XuckE&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&ved=0CBIQBSgA&q=Juniperus+scopulorum+safrole&spell=1&fp=c5aa4278f68e4a4

Anyways, kind of interested in this information so if you've got any good stuff on the junipers, let me know.
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hypnos

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Re: Juniper Sp. & Safrole
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2010, 02:55:57 AM »
dunno much about junipers but how did yougo with sourcing that "camphor laurel"? waspman ;)
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Vesp

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Re: Juniper Sp. & Safrole
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2010, 03:15:55 AM »
eh? Perhaps you are thinking of a different person..
 I've never tried to get it AFAIK. I've only tried S. albinum (sp) and I am pretty sure the little guy died... so I am just looking for another little plant that smells nice to grow :)

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hypnos

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Re: Juniper Sp. & Safrole
« Reply #3 on: March 03, 2010, 04:24:14 AM »
sorry matey :-[,,i thought it was you who posted some photos asking for some help identifying the plant in them (which IMHO were 'camphor leaves' for the person who spoke of sassafras' and camphors,,?)--camphors smell great but they will play havoc with the soil around the trees,,effectively sterilizing it!! :o plus IIRC the berries can be toxic for some types of wildlife,,birds etc
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flush_it

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Re: Juniper Sp. & Safrole
« Reply #4 on: March 03, 2010, 09:47:09 AM »
does anyone know where to find illicium parviflorum in aus???any help would bee fukin fantastic..

NeilPatrickHarris

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Re: Juniper Sp. & Safrole
« Reply #5 on: March 03, 2010, 09:12:55 PM »
does anyone know where to find illicium parviflorum in aus???any help would bee fukin fantastic..

i don't know how easy piper auritum is to find in aus but if you can get piper why just settle for that?  parviflorum might have more oil per weight and more safrole in its oil, but either way you cut it you will need lots of leaves.  the piper auritum grows like a weed, literally, in the right environment.  so while one parviflorum may yield more safrole than a piper auritum of the same weight, think about how quickly it will grow.  you can supposedly even clone piper auritum without too much difficulty.  if you can provide the proper environment then go for the piper auritum and a really large steam distillation setup to do lots of leaves at a time, and i mean lots of leaves.  piper auritum can be reproduced and grow much faster than the illicium parviflorum so that seems like more of a winner.  i still think albidum wins hands down compared to piper and parviflorum because of it having a much higher w/w oil content in general but it's notoriously hard to grow from seed and some claim it is difficult to transport also.  just my .02, steam distill a piper to see how much oil you get then run your calculations to see what is feasible in your opinion
« Last Edit: March 03, 2010, 09:17:24 PM by NeilPatrickHarris »

hypnos

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Re: Juniper Sp. & Safrole
« Reply #6 on: March 08, 2010, 04:53:18 AM »
camphors grow ALL OVER oz and are considered a pest--90% saffrole :o--go for it flushman ;D
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flush_it

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Re: Juniper Sp. & Safrole
« Reply #7 on: March 08, 2010, 09:32:41 AM »
hey there thanx heaps NPH you make good sense never really looked into piper but may start thinkin about it ...swim would still llike to get their hands on the parviflorum if possible..so any owners out there in oz let out a shout....

hypnos

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Re: Juniper Sp. & Safrole
« Reply #8 on: March 15, 2010, 02:38:06 AM »
btw i posted this on another thread but its worth posting again i think........ :P
Camphor Laurel-aka-Cinnamomum Camphor

Active Constituents of Camphor Laurel including compounds unique to southern hemisphere laurels
Narcotic Compounds 1. BENZENE (Ref: ATORI@scu-Lismore,1998)
2. NAPHTHALENE (A Fish poison) 
Cytotoxin 3. CINNAMOMIN (Ref: Liu-Jing et al.2001)
Toxic alkaloid 4. CINAMOLAURINE Ref: Toxic Plants of Nth America, 2001 
Volatile compounds 5. SABINENE
6. THUJENENE (Ref: NSW Ag. Labs)
Sesquiterpenes 7.CALACORENE
8. CALAMENONE
9. GUIAENE
10. MYRCENE
11.PATCHOULEN 12. alpha-YLANGENE
13. beta-YLANGENE
Other compounds 14. BICYCLOGERMACRENE ; (Ref:Kew Bot. Gdns.)
15-17. GERMACRENE A, B, AND D;
18. Hydrocyanic Acid (Breyer-Brandwijk/Africa 1968).

 

LIST TWO: Active Chemical Constituents Contained in Both NORTHERN and SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE CAMPHOR Laurel TREES, and Tree Parts Laboratory-Analysed TO-DATE:-

19. CAMPHOR ( principal, most common toxin, also a Narcotic compound)
20. BORNEOL (not present in all chemotypes)
21. SAFROLE, a moderately powerful mammalian liver pro-carcinogen
22. TERPINEOL
23. HELIOTROPIN
24. VANILLIN (also a Narcotic compound, after Overton, 1898,1901 'Studies on Narcosis')
25-26. alpha-, & beta-PINENE
27. CAMPHENE
28-29. alpha-, & beta-TERPINENE
30. LIMONENE
31. EUCALYPTOL (= 1,8 - Cineole)
32. TERPINEN-4-ol
33. TERPINEOL
34. CADINENE
35. gamma-TERPINENE
36. alpha-HUMULENE
37. CAMPHENOL
38. THUJENE
39. PHELLANDRENE
40. CAMPHORENE (A fourth cytotoxic constituent)
41-42. RETICULENE & LAUROLITSENE (toxic ALKALOIDS)
43-44. KUSUNOKIOL & SECOISOLARICIRESINOL DIMETHYL ETHER
45. 1,6 DIMETHYL-4-ISOPROPYL-7.8 DIHYDRONAPHTHALENE
(Ref:Bull.Chem.Soc.Japan, 41: 234 ; Other Refs. Kew Royal Botanic Gdns.Kew.UK, 'ATORI- Southem Cross Univ., NSW Agriculture-Wollongbar; & Indian Journal Medicinal Plants.1968.)
Typical Active Constituents Of Camphor (old list)
Potter's New Cyclopaedia of Botanical Drugs and Preparations (Wren 1988) provides a list of the volatile oils in camphor of natural origin :
1. camphor
2. safrole*
3. borneol
4. heliotropin
5. terpineol
6. vanillin and two of the lignans:
7. secoisosolariciresinol dimethyl ether
8. kusunokiol.


Other actives showing-up in an elementary GLC-screening analysis of both Chinese (double-distilled), and Australian camphor oils (Friend 1998) are:

9. limonene
10. thujenene
11. alpha pinene
12. beta pinene
13. camphene
14. sabinene
15. alpha terpinene
16. beta terpinene
17. limonene (a solvent)
18. 1,8-cineole
19. terpinen-4-ol
20. terpineol
21. "assorted sesquiterpenes"


('ATTORI', Southern Cross University, GLC analyses, March l998)
According to organic chemists the majority of the above 20 or more active constituents are moderately to highly biologically active against a range of organisms in the environment, some being known and proven capable of killing certain species/genera or a range of biota. Additionally, as first reported in 1968 in the Indian Journal of Medicinal Plants, camphor roots discharge considerable volumes of the alkaloid
22. laurolitsene*
23. reticulene*
24,25 Two new cytotoxins found by Chinese researchers (1995)
26. hydrocyanic acid

* Highly suspect wildlife toxins. Summary: Most active constituents of Camphor laurel trees are mono- or diterpenes, but lignans and alkaloids (2) have been reported, but are non-monitorable to date. The most-suspect toxins are the mammalian carcinogen Safrole,and the 2 alkaloids; Safrole % predominates as greater than Camphor % in certain chemotypes.
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