amygdalin

American  

[uh-mig-duh-lin] / əˈmɪg də lɪn /

noun

Chemistry, Pharmacology.

1. a white, bitter-tasting, water-soluble, glycosidic powder, C 20 H 27 NO 11 , usually obtained from bitter almond seeds and the leaves of plants of the genus Prunus and related genera: used chiefly in medicine as an expectorant.

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amygdalin British  

/ əˈmɪɡdəlɪn /

noun

1. a white soluble bitter-tasting crystalline glycoside extracted from bitter almonds and stone fruits such as peaches and apricots. Formula: C 6 H 5 CHCNOC 12 H 21 O 10

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Etymology

Origin of amygdalin

1645–55; < Latin amygdal ( a ) almond + -in ²

Example Sentences

Over the years, the state Business and Professions Code has been updated to explicitly bar physicians from breaking laws related to human cloning and to the long-discredited cancer treatments laetrile and amygdalin.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 6, 2022

The inside of cherry pits and other drupes like peaches and plums do indeed contain a chemical called amygdalin, which when ingested, is converted to cyanide.

From Salon • Sep. 10, 2022

The best-available evidence suggests that amygdalin doesn’t work, and that it may in fact be dangerous.

From Slate • Aug. 10, 2015

Says Dr. Frank J. Rauscher, director of the National Cancer Institute: "I wish it worked, but, in fact, amygdalin is simply not active against cancer."

From Time Magazine Archive

The explanation is that occasional individual almond trees have a mutation in a single gene that prevents them from synthesizing the bitter-tasting amygdalin.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond