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Occurrence of D-Lysergic Acid and 6-Methylergol-8-ene-8-carboxylic Acid in Cultures of Claviceps purpurea

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Abstract

OVER the past few years we have been examining the composition of ergot alkaloids produced in vitro by strains of Claviceps purpurea isolated from sclerotia growing on grasses in England. It was noted that exhaustive chloroform extraction of culture filtrates adjusted to pH 8.5 removed only about 40 per cent of the total Ehrlich-positive material; the remaining material at pH 3.5 was readily extracted with n-butanol. Paper1,2 and thin-layer3 chromatographic analysis of the chloroform-soluble fraction showed chanoclavine to be the principal component present accompanied by small quantities of elymoclavine and the ergotoxine group. Chromatography of the butanol fraction revealed only one fluorescent, Ehrlich-positive spot which was inseparable from D-lysergic acid and 6-methylergol-8-ene-8-carboxylic acid, the isomer of lysergic acid recently obtained from cultures of C. paspali4. We now have re-examined culture filtrates of a strain of C. purpurea originally isolated from Spartina townsendii to investigate further the composition of the butanol fraction.

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Author notes

  1. N. CASTAGNOLI: U.S. Public Health Service Postdoctoral Fellow.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, S.W.7.

    N. CASTAGNOLI JUN. & P. G. MANTLE

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  1. N. CASTAGNOLI JUN.
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  2. P. G. MANTLE
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CASTAGNOLI, N., MANTLE, P. Occurrence of D-Lysergic Acid and 6-Methylergol-8-ene-8-carboxylic Acid in Cultures of Claviceps purpurea. Nature 211, 859–860 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1038/211859b0

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