Anthraquinone pigments from Phoma foveata Foister.

1. Suitable conditions have been determined for growing the fungus Phoma foveata in culture for optimum production of pigments. 2. The pigments have been extracted and fractionated according to their solubility in aqueous bicarbonate, carbonate and alkali. 3. The carbonate- and alkali-soluble pigments have been further separated by chromatography and shown to consist of anthraquinone derivatives. 4. The alkali-soluble fraction, which comprised the bulk of the pigment, consists of pachybasin (1-hydroxy-3-methylanthraquinone; II) and chrysophanol (1,8-dihydroxy-3-methylanthraquinone; III) by comparison with authentic samples. 5. The carbonate-soluble fraction contains emodin (1,6,8-trihydroxy-3-methylanthraquinone; V) and a hitherto unrecorded pigment for which the name phomarin and the structure 1,6-dihydroxy-3-methylanthraquinone (IV) are put forward. 6. The identification of emodin and the structural determination of phomarin are based largely on their ultraviolet, visible, infrared, nuclear-magnetic-resonance and mass spectra.