Michio Murata, Anne M. Legrand, Yoshihiko Ishibashi, Masakazu Fukui, Takeshi Yasumoto.
Structures and configurations of ciguatoxin from the moray eel Gymnothorax javanicus and its likely precursor from the dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus toxicus, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1990, 112 (11), pp 4380–4386The moray eels (ca. 4000 kg) were collected from the Tuamotu Archipelago and from the Island of Tahiti in French Polynesia. The viscera (125 kg) were homogenized and extracted with two volumes of acetone twice. After filtration, the extract was left at -20 "C for 1 day to precipitate oily residue. The supernatant was evaporated to dryness and partitioned between diethyl ether and water. The ether layer was condensed and suspended in aqueous 80% MeOH, followed by defatting with hexane. The methanolic layer was condensed, dissolved in acetone. . .