Gallic acid

Overview

Gallic acid is an organic acid, also known as 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid, found in gallnuts, sumac, witch hazel, tea leaves, oak bark, and other plants. The chemical formula is C₆H₂(OH)₃CO₂H. Gallic acid is found both free and as part of tannins. It is commonly used in the pharmaceutical industry. Gallic acid can also be used to synthesize the hallucinogenic alkaloid mescaline, also known as 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine.

Salts and esters of gallic acid are termed gallates.

Gallic acid was one of the substances used by Angelo Mai among other early investigators of palimpsests to clear the top layer of text off and reveal hidden manuscripts underneath. Mai was the first to employ it, but did so "with a heavy hand," often damaging manuscripts for future study.

See also

• Pyrogallol
• Syringol
• Syringaldehyde

External links

• King's American Dispensatory (1898) entry on Gallic acid

References

• LD Reynolds and NG Wilson, “Scribes and Scholars” 3rd Ed. Oxford: 1991. pp193–4.