Chemical Properties
colourless liquid with a floral odour
Uses
antineoplastic, antibacterial
Definition
ChEBI: A farnesane sesquiterpenoid that is dodeca-2,6,10-triene substituted by methyl groups at positions 3, 7 and 11 and a hydroxy group at position 1.
General Description
Colorless liquid with a delicate floral odor.
Reactivity Profile
Flammable and/or toxic gases are generated by the combination of alcohols with alkali metals, nitrides, and strong reducing agents. They react with oxoacids and carboxylic acids to form esters plus water. Oxidizing agents convert them to aldehydes or ketones. Alcohols exhibit both weak acid and weak base behavior. They may initiate the polymerization of isocyanates and epoxides.
Description
Farnesol has a characteristic flowery odor.
Occurrence
The presence of this terpene alcohol in nature has been reported in more than 30 essential oils; the levels are generally low (0.5 to 1.0%) with the exception of cabreuva, which contains up to 2 5% farensol, and the distillate from fowers of Oxystigma buccholtzii Harms which contains up to 18% farnesol Among the essential oils containing farnesol are lemongrass, Ceylon citronella, cananga, ambrette seeds, ylang-ylang, Acacia farnesiana, Peru balsam, palmarosa, tuberose, and others Reported found in apricot, citrus peel oils, grapefruit juice, strawberry jam, ginger, clove bud, hop oil, cardamom, ginger, thyme, beer, whiskey, basil, papaya, anise seed, German chamomile and Cympogon citratus oils
Preparation
One method uses cabreuva as the starting material (Swiss Patent 261,120-Givaudan and Co ), while a second method starts from ambrette seeds (German Patent 149, 603-Haarmann and Reimer).
Aroma threshold values
Detection: 1 ppm; aroma characteristics at 1.0%: foral rose, sweet, fruity linalool with a fusel alcoholic, green lavender and haylike nuances.
Taste threshold values
aste characteristics at 10 ppm: sweet foral, fruity apricot and peachlike, green with woody tea and grape nuances.
Biochem/physiol Actions
Taste at 10 ppm
Anticancer Research
A pharmacogenomic approach was used for the farnesol. Tests on many genesinvolved in apoptosis, regulation of transcription, and genes like INE1, CTRL,MRS2, NEB, LMO7, C9orf3, and EHBP1 are not conferred resistance to farnesol.The effects of farnesol on genes not related to the resistance to anticancer drugs mayspeculate the design of new drugs against tumor-resistant line (Manjamalai andGrace 2012a, 2012b; Ji et al. 2014).
Purification Methods
The main impurity is the cis-trans isomer. Purify it by gas chromatography using a 4ft x 0.125in 3%OV-1 column at 150o. [Corey et al. J Am Chem Soc 92 6637 1970, Popjak et al. J Biol Chem 237 56 1962.] It has also been fractionated through a 14-in Podbielniak column (p 11) at 11o/0.35mm. Alternatively it has been purified by gas chromatography using SF96 silicone on Fluoropak columns or Carbowax 20M on Fluoropak or base-washed 30:60 firebrick (to avoid decomposition, prepared by treating the firebrick with 5N NaOH in MeOH and washed with MeOH to pH 8) at 210o with Helium carrier gas at 60 mL/min flow rate. The diphenylcarbamoyl derivative has m 61-63o (from MeOH) and has an IR band at 3500 cm-1. [Bates et al. J Org Chem 28 1086 1963, Beilstein 1 IV 2335.]
