OCCURRENCE OF INOSITOL PHOSPHATES AND OTHER ORGANIC PHOSPHATE COMPONENTS IN AN ORGANIC COMPLEX

A calcareous organic soil was extracted by shaking with Na⁺-resin suspended in 0·2M acetyl acetone at pH 8·3. Fractionation of the fulvic acid on Sephadex G 25 gave (a) a high molecular-weight component which contained inositol tetraand hexa-phosphates and a sugar phosphate; (b) low molecular-weight components which included the mono-, di-, and triphosphate esters of inositol and two sugar phosphates, but no free inositol phosphates. Inositol phosphates and sugar phosphates accounted for 30·2 per cent and 16·6 per cent of the soil organic P respectively. Our evidence indicates that these phosphate esters exist in an organic complex.