I have two questions I cannot presently resolve:
Was the identification of benzoylmescaline through its isolation and proof of structure or was it entirely through spectral means? The latter approach has been introducing a growing number of potential errors into the literature.
Has anyone else actually confirmed the results from the *2002* paper of Isobe & coworkers?
A more recent investigation posted at
http://www.sciencedirect...le/pii/S0378874113007186 (Ferreira da Silva et al 2014 Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 151: 137β143) mentioned the account of Isobe but did not appear to share the same phytochemical results.
Roersch (2010) Journal of Ethnopharmacology 131 522β537 also mentioned the results of Isobe and a number of other published analysis but of those only Isobe reported Benzoylmescaline.
On the subject of mescaline and mescaline derivatives in those two Acacias, the answer is clearly no. In between the published details and the conversations that Snozzleberry had with Dr. Forbes, the purported claim of mescaline and assorted other peyote alkaloids in Acacia species looks like it can be regarded as being in doubt or even dismissed as erroneous. This was the best that I could do with what literature I have been able to access:
http://sacredcacti.com/blog/acacia/Most interesting to me was the almost total lack of interest by Clement & crew about making what would have been considered quite novel discoveries by anyone else. I could not even find it mentioned in any of the published accounts as being an unusual find outside of the Cactaceae. Similarly their purported find of nortriptyline was also accompanied by a curious disinterest and lack of any subsequent follow-up.
That part alone should have set off some warning bells for all of us.