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Annex 3.1 Additional information provided by the editors
Secondary metabolites from cinnamon and cassia
Chemistry of Cinnamon and Cassia 107
Many interesting chemical substances, other than those present in the essential oils,
have been isolated from the bark of cinnamon and cassia. Some of these compounds are
responsible for the pharmacological–toxicological properties of cinnamon and cassia.
Isogai et al. (1976, 1977, 1979) isolated cinnzeylanine and cinnzeylanol from cinnamon
bark. Cinnzeylanine (1) has a molecular formula of C 22H 34O 8, is a diterpene, having
a pentacyclic skeleton (M P 265 267°C; [] 27 D 45 (C 20, CH 3OH).
Cinnzeylanine (2) is derived from the above, and has a molecular formula C 20H 32O 7
(MP125 127°C, [] 15 D 18). Alkali hydrolysis converts (1) to (2) (Fig. 3A.1). Other
compounds derived from (1) and (2) are anhydrocinnzeylanine, anhydrocinnzeylanol,
dioxocinnzeylanine, dioxocinnzeylanol, anhydrodioxocinnzeylanol and trioxocinnzeylanol.
Cinnzeylanine and cinnzeylanol show strong insecticidal properties, as a dose of
16 ppm in the diet leads to complete mortality of silkworm larvae.