Occurrence of ascorbigen, a phytoalexin-like compound in non-stressed or uninfected cabbage in the primary leaf stage

Occurrence of ascorbigen (chemically bound L-ascorbic acid) was studied in extracts of different cultivars of cabbage in cotyledonic and primary leaf stages by thin-layer chromatography, UV-VIS spectroscopic and mass spectrometric measurements. The eventual presence of 1’-methylascorbigen was also studied. It has been shown that samples prepared from cotyledons did not contain ascorbigen, in contrast to the plants in primary leaf stage. 1’-methylascorbigen was not identified in the analysed plant samples. These results demonstrate that ascorbigen is already formed in the early (primary leaf stage) development stage of cabbage.