Identification of epoxy- and hydroxyphytoene from norflurazon-treated Scenedesmus

In heterotrophically grown Scenedesmus kept in permanent darkness, treatment with the bleaching herbicide norflurazon resulted in the accumulation of five different compounds with a phytoene-like spectrum which could be separated and detected by HPLC. They were all purified by chromatographic procedures and identified by spectrocopic methods. The major compound detected was phytoene. Another was identified as 1,2-epoxy-1,2-dihydrophytoene by IR, NMR, and mass spectroscopies. Six different derivatives could be separated and identified as positional isomers of monohydroxyphytoene by their molecular ion and their fragmentation pattern in mass spectroscopy (...)