Arsonium compounds in algae

Search for a precursor of the arsenobetaine discovered in Western Australian rock lobster tail muscle has led to an algal metabolite of radioarsenate having the properties of a trimethylarsoniumriboside derivative of the major arsenicals of aquatic plants, dimethylarsinoylribosylglycerol, its sulfate ester, and the corresponding riboside of phosphatidylglycerol. Such an arsonium compound could serve as metabolic precursor of arsenobetaine, the innocuous arsenical component of many marine food products. The oceanic diatom, Chaetoceros gracilis, cultured in radioarsenate produced a compound whose chemical, chromatographic, and electrophoretic properties are described. It was found to be identical to the trimethylarsonium derivative synthesized from the major algal arsenical, 1-(5′-dimethylarsinoyl-5′-deoxyribosyl)glycerol-3-O -sulfate.