Coniferin is a

glucoside A glucoside is a glycoside that is derived from glucose. Glucosides are common in plants, but rare in animals. Glucose is produced when a glucoside is hydrolysed by purely chemical means, or decomposed by fermentation or enzymes. The name was o ...

coniferyl alcohol Coniferyl alcohol is an organic compound with the formula HO(CH3O)C6H3CH=CHCH2OH. A colourless or white solid, it is one of the monolignols, produced via the phenylpropanoid biochemical pathway. When copolymerized with related aromatic compounds, ...

. This white crystalline solid is a metabolite in

conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...

s, serving as an intermediate in cell wall

lignification Lignin is a class of complex organic polymers that form key structural materials in the support tissues of most plants. Lignins are particularly important in the formation of cell walls, especially in wood and bark, because they lend rigidity ...

, as well as having other biological roles. It can also be found in the water root extract of ''

Angelica archangelica ''Angelica archangelica'', commonly known as garden angelica, wild celery, and Norwegian angelica, is a biennial plant from the family Apiaceae, a subspecies of which is cultivated for its sweetly scented edible stems and roots. Like several oth ...

subsp. litoralis''.Dihydrofurocoumarin glucosides from Angelica archangelica and Angelica silvestris. John Lemmich, Svend Havelund and Ole Thastrup, Phytochemistry, 1983, Volume 22, Issue 2, Pages 553–555,

Vanillin Vanillin is an organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a phenolic aldehyde. Its functional groups include aldehyde, hydroxyl, and ether. It is the primary component of the extract of the vanilla bean. Synthetic vanillin is now used ...

was first synthesized from coniferin by chemists

Ferdinand Tiemann Johann Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand Tiemann (June 10, 1848 – November 14, 1899) was a German chemist and together with Karl Reimer discoverer of the Reimer-Tiemann reaction. Beginning in 1866, Tiemann studied pharmacy at the TU Braunschweig wh ...

and

Wilhelm Haarmann Gustav Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm Haarmann (24 May 1847 – 6 March 1931) was a German chemist and together with Karl Reimer and Ferdinand Tiemann as scientific consultant founded the Haarmann & Reimer chemical plant for the production of vanillin. ...

References

Monolignol glucosides {{aromatic-stub