Chemical analysis of flotsam ambergris.

The natural product ambergris is only found rarely on beaches, as jetsam. Even more scarce, or even absent, are accounts of flotsam ambergris. Here, we report the chemical analysis of a rare, large piece (>100kg) of flotsam found in the Atlantic in 2019. About 95% of subsamples from the outside o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Natural Product Research
Main Authors: Rowland, Steven J, Sutton, Paul A, Lewis, C Anthony, Knowles, Timothy, Wilde, Michael J, Alves, Filipe, Clough, Robert
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Atypon 2024
Subjects:
Ambergris
Physeter macrocephalus
ambrein
atlantic
copper
flotsam
squid
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1080/14786419.2024.2361863
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38946693
Description
Summary:The natural product ambergris is only found rarely on beaches, as jetsam. Even more scarce, or even absent, are accounts of flotsam ambergris. Here, we report the chemical analysis of a rare, large piece (>100kg) of flotsam found in the Atlantic in 2019. About 95% of subsamples from the outside of the coprolith was soluble in dichloromethane. Of this, FTIR spectroscopy, APCI-MS and GC-MS indicated the presence of ambrein. Radiocarbon dating indicated that the sample was post 1950s in age. The 13C/12C isotope ratio (-22.5 ‰) was typical of those reported to date for whale 'body' ambergris. Metals of ambergris have hardly been reported previously. The distribution found here for the flotsam, was dominated by copper and zinc, which is similar to that of several squid species. This is also consistent with the presence of squid beaks in the coprolith. Squid are a major prey species of sperm whales.

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