The wood of Virola carinata (Benth.) Warb. contains besides the known neolignans (+)-guaiacin and (-)-galcatin, (-)-isootobaphenol [(2R,3S,4S)-2,3-dimethyl-6,7-methylenedioxytetralin], in addition to 7,4'-dimethoxyflavanone. Until 1972 [4] it seemed that each of the plant families containing 4-aryltetralins was characterized by different representatives of this neolignan type (Table 1). Since, however, the compounds 1b-1f derive from guaiacin (1a) by ubiquitous biogenetic processes, it could have been anticipated that 1a should have the widest distribution and that no family specificity should exist for the rest of the compounds. Both points are brought into focus by the present report on Virola carinata. The wood of this Amazonian Myristicaceae [13] contains, besides (+)-guaiacin (1a) and (-)-galcatin (1e), the previously unknown (-)-isootobaphenol (1c) whose description completes the list of all possible simple guaiacin derivatives. An additional constituent, 7,4'-dimethoxyflavanone, was already available by synthesis [14]. The identifications of 1a [4] and 1e [2,6,15] relied upon comparisons with published data. Structure 1c was allotted to isootobaphenol upon recognition of the identity of its monomethyl ether with (-)-galcatin and the observation of a negative Gibbs test [16]. IR and, more conclusively, UV spectra [17] revealed the additional compound as a flavanone. Indeed, the 1HMR spectrum contains the pertinent signals due to the aliphatic ABX system [17], and defines unequivocally the substitution of the two mono-methoxylated aromatic rings.