Phytol

Phytol (florasol, phytosol) is an acyclic hydrogenated diterpene alcohol. It is naturally found in many plants as a result of chlorophyll degradation and is used by them to produce vitamin E and vitamin K1. It smells grassy and dominates the aroma of certain green teas. In human industry, phytol can be used to chemically synthesize vitamins E and K1. It is also used as a fragrance and flavoring in cosmetics, shampoos, toilet soaps, and detergents, as well as in some cannabis distillates as a diluent or for flavoring. Its worldwide use has been estimated to be approximately 0.1–1.0 metric tons per year.

Phytol (florasol, phytosol) is an acyclic hydrogenated diterpene alcohol. It is naturally found in many plants as a result of chlorophyll degradation and is used by them to produce vitamin E and vitamin K1. It smells grassy and dominates the aroma of certain green teas. In human industry, phytol can be used to chemically synthesize vitamins E and K1. It is also used as a fragrance and flavoring in cosmetics, shampoos, toilet soaps, and detergents, as well as in some cannabis distillates as a diluent or for flavoring. Its worldwide use has been estimated to be approximately 0.1–1.0 metric tons per year. ==Roles in nature== ==Possible biomedical applications== Phytol has been investigated for its potential anxiolytic, metabolism-modulating, cytotoxic, antioxidant, autophagy- and apoptosis-inducing, antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, immune-modulating, and antimicrobial effects. ====Vape controversy==== In 2020, Tokyo Smoke, a Canadian cannabis company owned by Canopy Growth at the time; pulled every phytol-containing product from their shelves and issued a 48 hour deadline to suppliers, demanding 'written confirmation' if it was included. A year later, David Heldreth, a former CSO of True Terpenes, a company that still listed it as a product; along with Andrew Freedman, investigated the matter, filing a request under the Access to Information Act to unredact the Health Canada study causing the product removals. In the same year, the Canadian government published an amendment to Canadian cannabis regulations regarding "flavours in cannabis extracts". ==Geochemical biomarker== Phytol has been described as "perhaps the most studied biomarker of those found in modern aquatic environments" in the context of biogeochemical tracers in aquatic environments. It is likely the most abundant acyclic isoprenoid compound present in the biosphere, being the ester sidechain of chlorophyll-a,b,c and bacteriochlorophyll-a (altogether produced by plants, algae, and many photosynthetic bacteria). It is degraded into a wide variety of products, including phytone, phytyldiol, dihydrophytol, pristane and many others, by biological and geological means. Some of these products such as pristane can be produced by other processes (such as oil spills) and are unusuable as a marker related to photosynthesis, while others such as dihydrophytol appear quite selective. An example of this use of phytol is in the estimation of carbon isotopic fractionation during photosynthesis by Rubisco using ancient sediments. ==See also== Archaeol Isophytol Phytantriol ==References==

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