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The study of the essential oil extracted from american diploid calamus rhizomes proved that this variety does not contain the cancerogenic cis-isoasarone (beta-asarone) nor other phenylpropane derivatives which are believed to be toxic. Typical compounds of the examined oil are sesquiterpeneketones, e. g. shyobunones and acorones which pharmaceutically used calamus oils also contain. We believe the isoasarone-free calamus rhizome to be an alternative to the triploid calamus variety often used in todays phytotherapy.

Acorus calamus L. yields different races depending upon the number of chromosomes in the plant cells and consequently different drug types with varying content of beta-asarone. The phenylpropane derivative proved to be carcinogenic in several animal tests. The diploid drug does not contain traceable amounts of beta-asarone, the triploid variety contains 0.3 per cent in the rhicome, the tetraploid yielded two races with a) 2 per cent and b) between 4 and 8 per cent beta-asarone. For reasons of optimal drug safety the use of asarone-rich races should be avoided. They can be distinguished by a fast and safe method of determining the extinction of the drug extract at the beta-asarone maxima of 253 and 303 nm. The determination of beta-asarone is possible using quantitative direct evaluation of thin-layer chromatograms on alumina layers with an efficient separation of the asarone. A good selectivity, obtainable at 300 nm, allows determination of beta-asarone down to 0.1 microg in drug extracts.

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