Indole

Description

Indole has an almost floral odor when highly purified. Otherwise, it exhibits the characteristic odor of feces. It is not very stable on exposure to light (turns red). Indole may be obtained from the 220 - 260°C boiling fraction of coal tar or by heating sodium phenylglycine-o-carboxylate with NaOH, saturating the aqueous solution of the melt with C 02, and finally reducing with sodium amalgam; can be prepared also by the reduction of indoxyl, indoxyl carboxylic acid, or indigo.

Chemical properties

white crystals with an unpleasant odour

Chemical properties

Indole has an unpleasant odor at high concentration, odor becomes floral at higher dilutions

Chemical properties

Indole is a solid at room temperature. It occurs naturally in human feces and has an intense fecal odor. At very low concentrations, however, it has a flowery smell, and is a constituent of many perfumes. Indole undergoes electrophilic substitution.

Physical properties

Colorless to yellow scales with an unpleasant odor. Turns red on exposure to light and air. Odor threshold of 0.14 ppm was reported by Buttery et al. (1988).

Chemical reactions

Electrophilic substitution

The most reactive position on indole for electrophilic aromatic substitution is C-3, which is 1013 times more reactive than benzene. For example, Vilsmeier-Haack formylation of indole will take place at room temperature exclusively at C-3. Since the pyrrollic ring is the most reactive portion of indole, nucleophilic substitution of the carbocyclic (benzene) ring can take place only after N-1, C-2, and C-3 are substituted.

Occurrence

Reported occurring in several natural products as a complex compound that decomposes during enfleurage or steam distillation yielding free indole; reported found in the essential oil from flower of Jasminum grandiflorum, in neroli oil and in the oil extracted from flowers of bitter orange; also reported in the flowers of several plants: lemon, coffee, Hevea brasiliensis and Randia formosa in the oil extracted from flowers of Jasminum odoratissinium L. and in the oil of Narcissus jonquilla. Also reported found in apricot, mandarin orange peel oil, grapes, kohlrabi, French fried potato, crispbread, cheeses, butter, milk, milk powder, boiled egg, fish oil, chicken, beef, pork, beer, rum, Finnish whiskey, red and white wine, coffee, tea, soybean, mushrooms, cauliflower, figs, rice, licorice, buckwheat, malt, wort, elder flower, clary sage, shrimp, okra, crab, clam, squid and green maté

The Uses of Indole

Indole, a heterocyclic organic compound occurring in some flower oils, such as jasmine and orange blossom, in coal tar, and in fecal matter.

The Uses of Indole

Can be used in perfumes and in the synthesis of tryptophan.

The Uses of Indole

Indole is a flavoring agent that is a white, flaky crystalline product. it has an unpleasant odor when concentrated and a flowery odor when diluted. it is soluble in most fixed oils and propylene glycol and insoluble in glycerin and mineral oil. it is obtained from decomposi- tion of a protein.

The Uses of Indole

Indole occurs in coal tar. It is used, underhigh dilution, in perfumery, and as an intermediatein organic synthesis.

Definition

indole: A yellow solid, C₈H₇N, m.p.52°C. Its molecules consist of a benzenering fused to a nitrogen-containingfive-membered ring. It occurs insome plants and in coal tar, and isproduced in faeces by bacterial action.It is used in making perfumes.Indole has the nitrogen atom positionednext to the fused benzenering. An isomer with the nitrogentwo atoms away from the fused ringis called isoindole.

Preparation

Obtained from the 220 to 260°C boiling fraction of coal tar or by heating sodium phenyl-glycine-o-carboxylate with NaOH, saturating the aqueous solution of the melt with CO2 and finally reducing with sodium amalgam; can be prepared also by the reduction of indoxyl, indoxyl carboxylic acid or indigo.

Aroma threshold values

Detection: 140 ppb

Synthesis

Indole and its derivatives can also be synthesized by a variety of methods.The main industrial routes start from aniline via vapor-phase reaction with ethylene glycol in the presence of catalysts:

Reaction of aniline and ethylene glycol to give indole.In general, reactions are conducted between 200 and 500 ℃. Yields can be as high as 60%. Other precursors to indole include formyltoluidine, 2-ethylaniline, and 2-(2-nitrophenyl)ethanol, all of which undergo cyclizations.

Synthesis Reference(s)

The Journal of Organic Chemistry, 55, p. 580, 1990 DOI: 10.1021/jo00289a036
Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin, 35, p. 1823, 1987 DOI: 10.1248/cpb.35.1823

General Description

Indole is classified under the volatile flavor compounds (VFCs). It is known to play significant role in various biological functions such as anti-inflammatory, anticonvulsant, cardiovascular and antibacterial activities.

Hazard

A carcinogen.

Health Hazard

Low to moderate toxicity was observed inexperimental animals resulting from oral orsubcutaneous administration of indole. Theoral LD50 value in rats is 1000 mg/kg. It is ananimal carcinogen. It caused tumors in bloodand lungs in mice subjected to subcutaneousadministration.

Fire Hazard

Noncombustible solid.

Flammability and Explosibility

Not classified

Biochem/physiol Actions

Taste at 0.3-2 ppm

Source

Indole was detected in jasmine flowers (Jasminum officinale), licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra), kohlrabi stems (Brassica oleracea var. gongylodes), and hyacinth flowers (Hyacinthus orientalis) at concentrations of 42 to 95, 2, 1.33, and 0.24 to 3.45 ppm, respectively. Indole also occurs in tea leaves, black locust flowers, corn leaves, petitgrain, and yellow elder (Duke, 1992).
A liquid swine manure sample collected from a waste storage basin contained indole at a concentration of 4.8 mg/L (Zahn et al., 1997).

Environmental Fate

Biological. In 9% anaerobic municipal sludge, indole degraded to 1,3-dihydro-2H-indol-2-one (oxindole), which degraded to methane and carbon dioxide (Berry et al., 1987). Heukelekian and Rand (1955) reported a 5-d BOD value of 1.70 g/g which is 65.4% of the ThOD value of 2.48 g/g.
Chemical/Physical. The aqueous chlorination of indole by hypochlorite/hypochlorous acid, chlorine dioxide, and chloramines produced oxindole, isatin, and possibly 3-chloroindole (Lin and Carlson, 1984).

Metabolic pathway

The indole is metabolized in a mineral salt medium inoculated with 9% anaerobically digested nitrate- reducing sewage sludge, resulting in the sequential occurrence of four structurally related compounds: oxindole, isatine, dioxindole, and anthranilic acid. Indole is metabolized by fungus via indoxyl (3-hydroxyindole), N-formylanthranilic acid, anthranilic acid, 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid, and catecol, which is further degraded by an ortho cleavage.

Metabolism

Indole is oxidized to 3-hydroxyindole (indoxyl) which is conjugated with glucuronic and sulphuric acids before excretion. The sulphate conjugate seems to be the main product in rabbits and, even with relatively large doses of indole, the sulphate conjugation always exceeds that of glucuronic acid(Williams, 1959).

Purification Methods

It can be further purified by sublimation in a vacuum or by zone melting. The picrate forms orange crystals from EtOH and has m 175o. [Beilstein 20 II 196, 20 III/IV 3176, 20/7 V 5.]

Toxicity evaluation

Indole causes oxidative damage to membranes.