Low Molecular Weight Organic Base from the Dinoflagellate Amphidinium carteri

Abstract

IN the course of an investigation into the nature of the soluble carbohydrate materials released by phytoplankton into their culture medium¹, we found that media from cultures of Amphidinium carteri, a dinoflagellate, showed a distinctly blue reaction with N-ethyl carbazole, rather than the usual purple-red colour. The material causing the blue reaction could be removed by dialysis, which also removed the fishy odour characteristic of old cultures of this organism. The dialysate displayed the usual carbohydrate colour reaction.