Article Title
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1964
Keywords
Arsenic compounds; Wood-decaying fungi
Abstract
Approximately 120 years ago in Europe is was learned that certain fungi liberated arsenous gases when they were grown on substrates containing arsenic. This was especially apparent when certain molds grew on paste on wall paper in damp rooms, converting arsenic-containing pigments in the wall paper into a gas with a garlic-like odor. This resulted in numerous cases of arsenic poisoning of people living in these rooms; some of these people died. The identity of the gas was unknown until 1932 when Challenger and his co-workers demonstrated that it was trimethylarsine ( CH3 )a As ( 3). Several species of Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Scopulariopsis (Fungi imperfecti) and a species of Mucor (Phycomycetes) are capable of methylating arsenical compounds (2).
First Page
105
Last Page
106
Recommended Citation
Merrill, W.,
&
French, D. W.
(1964).
The Production of Arsenous Gases by Wood-Rotting Fungi.
Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science, Vol. 31 No.2, 105-106.
Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/jmas/vol31/iss2/3
Primo Type
Article