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Identification of scyllo ‐Inositol Phosphates in Soil by Solution Phosphorus‐31 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Author(s) -
Turner Benjamin L.,
Richardson Alan E.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj2004.8020
Subject(s) - inositol , phosphate , chemistry , hexa , nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy , inositol phosphate , phosphorus , soil water , chromatography , biochemistry , organic chemistry , biology , ecology , receptor
A large proportion of the organic P in soils can occur as scyllo ‐inositol phosphates. These compounds are rarely detected elsewhere in nature and remain poorly understood, partly because conventional procedures for their determination are lengthy and erroneous. We report a straightforward procedure for the determination of scyllo ‐inositol phosphates in soil extracts using solution 31 P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Solution 31 P NMR chemical shifts of a range of synthetic scyllo ‐inositol phosphate esters were determined in alkaline solution. Of these, only the signal corresponding to scyllo ‐inositol hexa kis phosphate at approximately 4.2 ppm was identified in soil NaOH–EDTA extracts, constituting between 6.5 and 9.8% of the NaOH–EDTA extracted P. This signal has been previously assigned to choline phosphate, but we confirmed it to be an inositol phosphate using hypobromite oxidation, a procedure that destroys all organic matter except inositol phosphates. Lower order scyllo ‐inositol phosphate esters were not identified in the extracts studied here, and literature reports suggest that they probably occur in insufficient concentrations to be detected by this procedure. The identification of scyllo ‐inositol hexa kis phosphate in soils and other environmental samples will allow its quantification in a range of environments, and facilitate research into the origins and function of this enigmatic compound.