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Volatile Organic Matter in Algal Culture Media and Sea Water

Abstract

DURING an investigation of the extracellular products of marine algae, in which filtered culture media were concentrated by vacuum distillation, the distillates, which had an appreciable odour, were found to have a greater absorption of ultra-violet light than distilled water. The absorption of distillates increased by distilling at atmospheric pressure with ice cooling, a spray trap being incorporated in the apparatus. Examples of spectra from filtrates of uni-algal cultures of Enteromorpha sp., Phaeocystis pouchetii, and Phaeodactylum tricornutum, bacteria-free Ectocarpus confervoides and membrane-filtered sea water are shown in Fig. 1. The overall shape of the absorption curves is somewhat affected by rate of boiling, degree of cooling, alkalinity of sample and freshness of the distillate. This suggests that more than one constituent may be present.

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ARMSTRONG, F., BOALCH, G. Volatile Organic Matter in Algal Culture Media and Sea Water. Nature 185, 761–762 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1038/185761b0

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