The metabolism of ammonium fluoride and sodium monofluoroacetate by experimental Acacia georginae
Abstract Plants of Acacia georginae (one of numerous toxic tropical species now known to contain monofluoroacetate) were cultivated in nutrient-washed quartz, and in soil. Attempts were made to induce the formation of organic fluorine by treatment of the roots with a solution of ammonium fluoride. Only small amounts of carbon-fluorine material were measured in the leaves and roots, and examinations by physico-chemical methods failed to detect any evidence of the presence of monofluoroacetate in any of the plants. Similar plants were treated with sodium monofluoroacetate which underwent considerable degradation to an acid-labile form of fluorine (probably inorganic fluoride). The results of the analyses of the roots and leaves for fluorine revealed that the difference between acid-labile (diffusible) fluoride and total fluorine cannot be taken as a measure of the organic fluorine.