‖ thuja
(ˈθjuːdʒə)
[mod.L. (Linnæus): see Thuya.]
The more common English form of the name of trees or shrubs of the botanical genus now called Thuya, q.v., also of the wood of T. occidentalis, and of drugs derived from it.
oil of thuja, an essential oil obtained by distilling the ends of the branches and the leaves of T. occidentalis with water.
| 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. (1788) 299 Thuja, Arbor Vitæ. 1865 Visct. Milton & Cheadle Northwest Passage by Land 287 There were pines and thujas of every size. 1866 Treas. Bot., Thuja occidentalis is the American Arbor Vitæ. 1868 Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 186 After ascending some distance the mountain sides.., the wood..consists particularly of a noble Thuja. 1884 Queen Victoria More Leaves 301 There are..a wonderful old laurel and thuja which have spread to an immense size. 1884 Mag. of Art Mar. 179/2 The richly carved ceiling of thuja and cedar. |
Hence names of chemical compounds obtained from the species Thuja occidentalis (all in Cent. Dict. spelt thuy-): ˈthujene = thujone; ˈthujenin or thuˈjigenin, thuˈjetic acid, ˈthujetin, ˈthujin, ˈthujone: see quots.; thujaplicin (-ˈplaɪsɪn) [L. plic-ātus, pa. pple. of plicāre to fold], any of three isomers of isopropyltropolone, C3H7·C7H5O2, that have fungicidal properties and occur in the conifer Thuja plicata.
| 1868 Watts Dict. Chem. V. 789 Thujetic acid, C28H22O13..is prepared: 1. by boiling thujetin with baryta-water [etc.]..2...by boiling thujin for some hours with baryta-water in an atmosphere of hydrogen. Ibid., Thujetin, C28H28O16... A compound obtained, together with crystallisable sugar, by heating thujin with dilute acids. Ibid. 790 Thujigenin, C28H24O14... A compound occurring in..the green parts of Thuja occidentalis, and produced, together with sugar, when thujin is heated with hydrochloric acid. Ibid., Thujin, C20H22O12... A crystallisable glucoside, occurring in the green parts of Thuja occidentalis... Thujin forms shining lemon-yellow crystals, appearing under the microscope as four-sided tables. Ibid. 791 Thujone, a volatile hydrocarbon, obtained by the action of iodine on oil of thuja. 1873 ― Fownes' Chem. 643 When heated..with hydrochloric acid, [thujin] yields..thujenin. 1894 Muir & Morley Watts' Dict. Chem. IV. 714 Thujone, C10H18O,..occurs, together with the terpene C10H16..in the essential oil of thuja. 1948 Erdtman & Gripenberg in Nature 8 May 719/2 The compound, m.p. 82°, is termed γ-thujaplicin because the isopropyl group occupies the γ-position in the cycloheptatrieneolone. 1964 New Scientist 4 June 613/1 The tropolones beta thujaplicin and gamma thujaplicin were highly toxic to the four test basidiomycetes. 1978 Further Perspectives Org. Chem. 29 He did visualize the formation of simpler natural tropolones—the thujaplicins—by ring expansion in some unknown way from a benzene ring and an attached carbon. |