Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A colorless or pale yellow oily liquid, C10H10O2, derived from oil of sassafras and other essential oils and used in making perfume and soap. Safrole was banned as a food additive in the United States because it is a suspected carcinogen.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun organic chemistry A colourless to yellow liquid, a component of sassafras oil and brown camphor oil, with pesticidal properties.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French safran, saffron; see saffron + –ole.]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word safrole.

Examples

  • Many foods also contain carcinogens -- chemicals that cause cancer at high dose in laboratory animals -- such as safrole in cinnamon.

    Chemicals, Cancer And Claptrap 2010

  • The main aromatic in hoja santa is safrole, the characteristic note of sassafras familiar from root beers, and a suspected carcinogen.

    On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen Harold McGee 2004

  • The main aromatic in hoja santa is safrole, the characteristic note of sassafras familiar from root beers, and a suspected carcinogen.

    On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen Harold McGee 2004

  • The recipe requires oil of sassafras, or another source of safrole.

    Clandestine-Chemistry Shan, Yogi 1995

  • Nutmeg is more dangerous ingested, but safrole rubbed in to the skin is something else...

    The Guardian World News Chris Harding 2011

  • A spokeswoman 288 litres of safrole oil has been seized, enough to make 2.3 million ecstasy tablets.

    NEWS.com.au | Top Stories 2011

  • For ecstasy, this involved safrole, an essential oil produced by distilling the root bark of certain trees.

    Home | Mail Online 2010

  • It was also revealed Australian Customs alerted police to the arrival of the machines into Australia with the raids taking place following a seven month multi-agency investigation into cocaine supply and safrole oil manufacture.

    northernstar.com.au: The Northern Star 2010

  • During the raids police also seized ecstasy pills, LSD, cannabis, cocaine, steroids, and safrole oil (the precursor to MDMA).

    northernstar.com.au: The Northern Star 2010

  • In July 2008, in Pursat, 170km west of Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, UN anti-drug officers destroyed 30 tons of safrole-rich oil, which was to be used by clandestine chemists in Holland to make ecstasy, using Shulgin's recipe.

    Home | Mail Online 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "The pulse of dance-club music plays like a jungle beat, as thumping bass notes flirt with flashing lights, liquor and ecstasy of the pharmaceutical kind. Miles and miles away, a little-known multi-billion dollar battle is playing out in the remote wilderness of Cambodia, linking the club scene to the jungle in a more nefarious way. Clandestine factories deep in the Cardamom Mountains of western Cambodia are producing safrole oil — also known as sassafras oil — the main ingredient in the party drug Ecstasy."

    - Sam Campbell, Harvested to make Ecstasy, Cambodia's trees are felled one by one, globalpost.com, 30 August 2009.

    September 7, 2009