Molecules: You'd better learn to live with them.
Safrole is a simple organic compound found in sassafras oil:
It has a pleasant odor and used to be used to flavor root beer, but sassafras oil has fallen out of favor in the past few years for a few reasons: first, safrole has been deemed carcinogenic and banned as a flavoring agent by the US FDA. Second, it's actually a drug precursor - like pseudoephedrine-containing allergy medicines, it's not illegal to buy sassafras oil (as far as I know, I've never tried!), but it's watched closely by US drug enforcement. The people buying pints at a time probably aren't making a few gallons of root beer, and safrole-free sassafras oil is available for flavoring purposes anyway, so you might have some 'splaining to do if you were to pick up a case.
Comments
Hmmm, that molecular structure looks more like MDMA than amphetamine proper.
Posted by: Mike Jenkins | June 8, 2007 10:41 PM
Yes, safrole is used to make Ecstasy, not regular amphetamines.
Posted by: Abe | June 9, 2007 3:52 AM
Safrole has such a lovely smell....like an entire candy store worth of sweetness.
Does anyone else think the structure of safrole looks like a cute little mouse?
Posted by: Vince Noir | June 10, 2007 4:40 PM
I think it looks like a frog who has had a leg pulled off.
Posted by: Jones | June 11, 2007 11:38 AM
Yes, I too think that the molecule looks like a cute little mouse.
Posted by: Katherine Sharpe | June 12, 2007 11:04 AM
If you like this, check out the nanoputians:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanoputian
Posted by: Oskar | June 12, 2007 5:02 PM
Is it realy carcinogenic or is it baned becouse it could be used as a drug? If the second is right I would love to get my hands on some!
Posted by: Jeboslav | June 12, 2007 5:07 PM
The 5-6 ring bit has a similar shape to purines. I bet it gets incorporated into DNA as a base (or the associated enzymes) and gets into all sorts of mischief. So I put my money on it being an actual carcinogen. Am I right but for the wrong reason? If not I am going to start making root beer. They take all the fun chemicals out of soft drinks and cold medicines. Childhood just has not been the same since they took the cocaine out of Coke and the heroin out of cough syrup.
Posted by: Saul Wall | June 12, 2007 9:25 PM
No, safrole itself isn't a drug of abuse. (It is antiseptic, and numbs the mouth, but that's about it). Safrole can be converted into MDA or MDMA (ecstasy), but not without some serious organic chemisty. Which, of course, is illegal and dangerous, and should not be attempted!!
Posted by: Vince Noir | June 12, 2007 9:45 PM
If those Nanoputians weren't from a famous scientist they would have been ridiculed to death. The daft thing is that, it's only the written paper presentation in 2D that it looks anything like a stickman.
Posted by: Elinker | June 13, 2007 7:23 PM
Sassafras can't be converted into MDMA without a real lab
Posted by: Cobra | April 17, 2009 8:16 AM