Phosphate Conjugation of Phenols in Musca Domestica and Costelytra Zealandica

Abstract

In this thesis the conjugation of phenols with phosphate to form mono-aryl phosphate esters is investigated as a mode of detoxication of phenols in flies, especially Musca domestica, and the grass grub, larval form of Costelytra zealandica, (White). The work is divided into three sections. (i) A preliminary survey in which insects were dosed with various phenols and whole body extracts and feces were examined for metabolites, especially the phosphates, using paper chromatographic techniques. (ii) Characterization of α - naphthyl, β - naphthyl, and p - nitrophenyl phosphate conjugates, eluted from chromatograms of extracts, by co-chromatography, ionophoresis and determination of U.V. spectra. (iii)A preliminary survey into possible occurence of an enzyme system catalysing the formation of aryl phosphates from phenols.