The tremorgenic mycotoxins isolated from Aspergillus terreus were given the trivial names territrem A and territrem B instead of their previous designations of C, and C2, respectively. High-resolution mass spectral data suggested the molecular formula of territrem A to be C2sHaoO9 and that of territrem B, C29H3409.

Territrems A and B, tremorgenic mycotoxins in the rice culture of Aspergillus terreus, were extracted with hot chloroform. The toxins were cleaned on a silica gel column by direct adsorption-concentration of the extracts followed by desorption with chloroform-acetone (9:1, vol/vol). Crude toxin mixtures were separated by silica gel column chromatography and eluted with benzene-ethyl acetate (65:35, vol/vol). The method gave 112 mg of territrem A, 379 mg of territrem B, and 80 mg of their mixture from 4 kg of rice per batch. The criteria of extraction, cleanup, and separation are provided.

The polyfluorinated title compounds, [MBr(CHFNO)] or [4,4'-(HCFCFCHOCH)-2,2'-bpy]MBr, (1) (M = Pd and bpy is bipyridine) and (2) (M = Pt), have -CHOCHCFCFH side chains with methylene H-atom donors at the α and β sites, and methine H-atom donors at the terminal sites, in addition to aromatic H-atom donors. In contrast to the original expectation of isomorphous structures, (1) crystallizes in the space group C2/c and (2) in P2/n, with similar unit-cell volumes and Z = 4. The asymmetric unit of (1) is one half of the molecule, which resides on a crystallographic twofold axis. Both (1) and (2) display stacking of the molecules, indicating a planar (bpy)MBr skeleton in each case. The structure of (1) exhibits columns with C-H...Br hydrogen bonds between consecutive layers which conforms to a static (β,β) linkage between layers. In the molecular plane, (1) shows double C-H...Br hydrogen bonds self-repeating along the b axis, the planar molecules being connected into infinite belts. Compound (2) has no crystallographic symmetry and forms π-dimer pairs as supermolecules, which then stack parallel to the a axis. The π-dimer-pair supermolecules exhibit (Pt-)Br...Br(-Pt) contacts [3.6937 (7) Å] to neighbouring π-dimer pairs crosslinking the columns. The structure of (2) reveals many C-H...F(-C) interactions between F atoms and aromatic C-H groups, in addition to those between F atoms and methylene C-H groups.

Three methods were adopted for differentiation of aflatoxins B1 and B2 from territrems A and B. They were as follows. (i) Then-layer chromatography coupled with chemical confirmation. A significant decrease in the Rf value of trifluoroacetic acid-treated aflatoxin B1 developed in chloroform-acetone (85:15, vol/vol) was satisfactory in differentiating this toxin from the other three. (ii) High-pressure liquid chromatography monitored synchronously at two wavelengths, 365 and 335 nm. The ratio derived from this double-wavelengh detection could serve as an indicator of the presence of each toxin. (iii) Velasco's flurotoxin meter method, which is used for the determination of aflatoxins within the range of 0 to 50 ng/ml, was not significantly affected by territrems even when they were present in quantities at the microgram-per-milliliter level.

The chemical reaction of cleavaging territrem B to give 3,4,5-trimethoxy benzoic acid by alkaline hydrogen peroxide was investigated. The method was applied for confirmation of the chemical structure of the aromatic moiety of territrem A, A', B, and B'. The physicochemical properties of the aromatic cleavage product of territrem Aindicated the structure as 3,4-methylendioxy, 5-methoxy benzoic acid (or 4-methoxy, 6-carboxy, 1, 3-benzodioxole). The experiment also gave the evidences that territrem A and A', on the other hand territrem B and B' have the identical aromatic moieties on their structures.