<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

    Hi, everybody.  Recently I posted a question to the list, asking
what the relationship was between salicylates & phenols (since some
celiacs and others following a GF diet seem to be sensitive to
phenols).  Another listmember asked me to post any responses I got,
so here is an excellent answer to the question, posted with
permission of Markus Isler, who wrote it:

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------

Hi Jeanne,

sorry for the bad news, here from a chemical standpoint:  salicylates
are just a special class of phenols, but not listed or named as such
because the acid functiona ity has the higher priority in chemical
nomenclature.  Thus, ortho-hydroxybenzoic acids are termed salicylates
instead of orthocarboxypheols.  To understand this properly, you
should maybe know that phenols are a family of compounds that have
at least one hydrogen atom substituted by a hydroxy group on the core
benzene ring.  Thus, salicylates, that have the above mentioned
structural unit in common, that is, ortho-hydroxybenzoate, are not only
benzoic acids, but also phenols.

            sorry for the bad news and the lenghty
            complicated explanation,

            with my best wishes for your good health

                Markus Isler
                San Diego


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