Uridine - 5 ’ - Pyrophosphate Derivatives

The first evidence for the existence of uridine diphosphate compounds was limited to the observation that Staphylococcus aureus cells, when grown in the presence of penicillin, accumulated a new form of acid-labile phosphate in their internal environment (1). The labile phosphate appeared to be part of a complex compound which also contained uracil. In a brief note (2), it has since been reported that this material contains at least three compounds, all of which contain uracil, two phosphate groups, pentose, and an unknown sugar. Two of these compounds were shown to contain amino acids. The purpose of this paper is to describe the methods used for the production and purification of these compounds, with particular attention to the use of phenol in partition chromatography. Papers II and III deal with chemical characterization of the compounds (3).