I was wondering if anyone out there has ever physically dug up a sass tree to obtain the root bark to obtain safrole? I have permission to dig a few up on a friends property. Fortunately they don't anything about sassafras nor do they care. Is it worth the effort to do this? what is the best way to obtain the root bark?
i'm sorry, are you a graduate level organic chemist? (If so, i need to strike up a deep and personal relationship with you immediately!) Please leave the poor tree alone. This is a difficult synthesis and i don't even know if the root bark of this poor thing is a good precursor . . . . Regardless, let us know what you decide and how it works out . . . Peace & Love, Spicey Cat Meow!
You don't need to be a grad student, but a bit of chemistry background is needed, but its not worth your time to mess with the trees.
Digging up tree roots is not the way to go. I've heard from someone who's done it before and they said it is not worth it. You need to be doing this on the industrial scale for it to make sense. If you have a still for steam distillation or a steam distillation chemistry set, you can (theoretically) get safrole from sassafras root bark powder or chips that are sold at some herbal stores online. Sassafras oil in the root bark is reported to be about 3% by weight. So 1lb root bark powder (~$25) would theoretically yield 13.59g sassafras oil, which should be about 80% safrole.
I have two years of college chemistry under my belt and one year working as a full time lab tech. I am working on my BA in organic chemistry right now. Spicey Cat if you wanna talk more in depth just send me a personal message. Obviously this is my first time with this so I need to keep all of my options open and get in touch with those more experienced with the process. loC have you ever ordered the root bark powder? That seems risky. brown camphor oil seems like the way to go from the research I've done. 1-2% safrole content would take quite a bit of time and effort but I'm not doing this to get rich. It's purely out of curiosity about the mentioned compound. Thank you all for your responses and time.
I have done what you describe - also more out of curiosity and general interest than any driving need for sassafras. I don't doubt those only interested in drug making find it a chore but if you are someone truly interested in plant medicine or scientific curiousity you will enjoy it. The books I read from the old days suggest digging up saplings. Sassafras tends to clump around the edge of forests and the young trees are easier to pull up. The branches have a lemony smell and you can detect what you want by smell. I noticed that there are little pockets of the root beer smell at nodes of branches. If you take from a mature tree find a portion of root that is near the surface and take a sharp knife to cut chips of the root bark off. Then recover it, not likely to cause much trouble for the tree. To process it again, use your nose, although there are some color indications - like little pockets of darker material in the twigs. I washed it up and sorted through it using my nose. Whatever had a stronger smell of sassafras than limonene I chipped and used in a steam distillation. salat
Depending on where you live, fall is here and Sassafrass trees are one of the first trees to drop their leaves, so if you aren't in a warmer climate, run out now and mark your trees. From experience, being out in the middle of late fall with and axe, and knowing what to look~ and smell for~ in a sassafrass tree, it's hard to pick one out without the leaves. (At least for me it was.) You don't need to have your master's in chemistry to do this. I'd suggest 1.5-2 years of chemistry in college would be very beneficial. Seriously though, don't even start digging tree roots up unless you have the equiptment, understand what you're doing, and the other materials. Just find the tree and dig the root up. Hack part of the root off from the tree. The fall is the best time; the leaves are dropping from the trees and their 'best juices' are stored in the roots for winter. It's the time for the highest concentration. Distilling the sassafrass is a LONG process and a lot of work, and the yield sucks for the amount of work you need to do. If you're still willing to do it, good luck. Yes, the trees do tend to grow along forest lines instead of deeper into the woods. Oh, and the last time I looked, people were selling sassafrass root on ebay for dirt cheap.
