Coumarin compounds Catalog
Coumarin is an aromatic organic compound in the benzopyrone chemical class, although it can also be considered as a subclass of lactones. It is a natural substance, found in many plants, in the standard state of colorless crystalline material.
The name comes from a type of coumarin called French bean, which was one of the sources of coumarin first separated as a natural product in 1820. It has a sweet taste and is easily considered to be the smell of freshly cut hay. It has been used in perfumes since 1882. Sweet woody, sweet vanilla, sweet grass and sweet clover especially derive their name from their sweet (ie pleasant) odor, which in turn is related to their high coumarin content. Coumarin is a somewhat bitter appetite suppressant when it emerges in high-concentration feed plants, presumably a defensive chemical produced by plants to prevent predation.
Coumarin is used in certain perfumes and fabric conditioners. Coumarin has been used as a flavor enhancer in tobacco smoke and certain alcoholic beverages, but it is generally banned from being used as a spice food additive because of concerns about hepatotoxicity in animal models.
Coumarin was first synthesized in 1868. It is used in the pharmaceutical industry as a precursor reagent for the synthesis of many synthetic anticoagulants similar to dicoumarol, notably warfarin (trade name Coumadin) and some of the more effective rodenticides that pass the same resistance. Condensation mechanism. 4-hydroxycoumarin is a vitamin K antagonist. The pharmaceutical (modified) coumarins all come from the study of sweet clover disease; see this history of warfarin. However, the unmodified coumarin itself has no effect on the action of the vitamin K coagulation system or warfarin when it occurs in plants.
Coumarin itself has clinical value as an edema modulating agent. Coumarins and other benzopyrones such as 5,6-benzopyrone, 1,2-benzopyrone, Diosmin, etc. are known to stimulate macrophages to degrade extracellular albumin, thereby making The edema fluid quickly reabsorbed. Other biological activities that may have led to other medical uses have been proposed and provide varying degrees of evidence.
Coumarin can also be used as a gain medium for some dye lasers and as a sensitizer in older photovoltaic technologies.
