Biocromos (pigmentos) de invertebrados marinhos: I - Briozoarios

Abstract

<abstract language="eng">In the present paper the author reported the results obtained for the chemical caracterization of the pigments of some species of Bryozoa (Polyzoa), living in the bay and the coast near Rio de Janeiro. The pigments (biochromes) of "Bugula neritina", "Schizoporella unicornis", "Steganoporella magnilabris", "Bugula flabellata" and "Trigonospora sp", were extracted and the results showed that carotene was found in all the species, except, "Bugula neritina" and "Bugula flabellata". A new water-soluble pigment was described for "Bugula neritina". Spectrophotometric curves obtained with the Beckman spectrophotometer are reported for the "Bugula" pigment and for the carotenoids. Chromatographic analysis and the treatment with immiscible solvents were performed for all the extracts of the animals considered. A study of the biochromes of other "phyla" will be published in a near future

The Dawn of Marine Natural Product Chemistry – the Brazilian Origin

“…They state "The first report on the chemistry of a marine organism from a Brazilian coastline dealt with the isolation of cholesterol from the sea urchin Echinometra lucunter in 1963." This is by far too modest, because already in 1948, Gilberto Guimarães Villela described the isolation and chemistry of a purple pigment from the marine bryozoan Bugula neritina collected from Brazilian waters [2][3]. The actual site of collection was in the bay of Rio de Janeiro near the Hydrobiological Station of the famous Oswaldo Cruz Institute.…”