Читать книгу Aromatherapy Workbook - Shirley Price - Страница 41

So far we have become familiar with two of the essential building blocks of life, namely carbon and hydrogen (forming hydrocarbons), and now we are going to introduce another element, oxygen. Oxygen is usually found as part of a functional group. There are many such groups, each altering the carbon chain or phenyl ring molecule to which it is attached, to form alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, etc. (as explained above).

Of the molecules we are going to look at, those having therapeutic effects – largely without toxicity – are alcohols and esters (which are interrelated with organic acids). Ketones, aldehydes and phenols, also effective therapeutically, need to be treated with respect as they are very powerful.

Let us take these molecules one at a time without worrying about remembering the name of each functional group – it is much more important to remember the ‘family’ name of the chemical formed by the addition of a functional group – alcohol, ketone, etc.

There are many different alcohols, aldehydes, (organic) acids, and so on in a single essential oil – essential oils are extremely complex mixes. In fact there is no direct, simple relationship between any one chemical constituent and the therapeutic qualities of a whole essential oil.¹²