It has been occasionally observed that white crystalline particles deposited by standing on inside walls of a coffee mill's adaptor or pepper container madefrom imported narra wood. This study was carried out to conform the chemical structures of the particles deposited and ensure the safety from a food hygienic viewpoint.
Chopped samples of dried narra wood or containers made from it were steam distilled. The distillate was extracted with petroleum ether to obtain an essential oil. The gas chromatographic preliminary experiments revealed that there were five principal components in the oil. Having been considered that two components of which corresponded to main ones of the particles deposited in the containers, we have attempted isolations of them by further purification of the essential oil.
The oil was subjected to an alumina column chromategraphy. By a following silica gel (silver nitrate impregnated) column chromatography, two major fractions were obtained. One of the fractions was purified by sublimation under reduced pressure, and a purified white crystal was obtained. The purified material was analysed by various physical and spectral methods, such as, IR, NMR, GC-MS and others, and identified as β-eudesmol.
Another fraction treated in a similar manner was determined as α-eudesmol.
Finally, it became clear that principal components of the white particles deposited in the containers were β-eudesmol with a small amount of its α-isomer.
