A substance that degrades aflatoxin B
1 is present in culture filtrates of rat intestinal microorganisms. The substance was produced by
Morganella morganii A 17-3-1 (formerly
Proteus morganii). The substance was isolated by use of a silica gel column and preparative thin-layer chromatography, and further purified by gel filtration. A chick embryo bioassay was used to measure detoxification of aflatoxin B
1. The substance was white powder, which we studied by mass, infrared, ultraviolet, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry. Based on its spectrometric properties, the substance was identified as a carbonate of β-phenylethylamine. The reaction of the substance with aflatoxin B
1 produced eight unknown components on a thin-layer chromatography plate of silica gel.
The bioassays showed that the aflatoxin B
1 was detoxified after reaction with this substance. We concluded that the substance that degraded aflatoxin B
1 was β-phenylethylamine because the carbonate of β-phenylethylamine was produced during the purification process.
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