Abstract
When Penicillium janczewskii is grown in liquid culture media a substance is produced which causes stunting, excessive branching and characteristic distortions in the germ tubes of Botrytis allii and other fungi1. The substance has been isolated and called ‘curling-factor’2. When some preliminary observations3 were made on the chemical and physical properties of curling-factor, the presence of chlorine was overlooked and a formula C20H20O9 was proposed. We find that chlorine is present and that curling-factor is identical with griseofulvin C17H17O6Cl, which was isolated several years ago by Oxford, Raistrick and Simonart4 from Penicillium griseofulvum (for curling-factor found: C 58·4; H 4·9 per cent; mol. wt. 362; OCH3 23·2; Cl 9·8 (micro) and 9·7 (macro) per cent; CH3—(C) 4·9 per cent; calculated for C17H17O6Cl: C 57·9; H 4·9 per cent; mol. wt. 352·7; OCH3 26·4 (for three OCH3); Cl 10·1; CH3—(C) 4·3 (for one CH3) per cent). The melting point (220°) of a sample of griseofulvin which was kindly supplied to us by Prof. Raistrick was not depressed by mixing with curling-factor (m.p. also 220°); and further, griseofulvin is identical with curling-factor in its biological properties5.
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Brian, P. W., Hemming, H. G., and McGowan, J. C., Nature, 155, 637 (1945).
Brian, P. W., Curtis, P. J., and Hemming, H. G., Trans. Brit. Mycol. Soc., 29, 173 (1946). McGowan, J. C., Trans. Brit. Mycol. Soc., 29, 188 (1946).
Oxford, A. E., Raistrick, H., and Simonart, P., Biochem. J., 33, 240 (1939).
Brian, P. W., unpublished results.
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GROVE, J., MCGOWAN, J. Identity of Griseofulvin and ‘Curling-Factor’. Nature 160, 574 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/160574a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/160574a0
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