Journal of Lipid Research, Vol. 15, 281-283, May 1974
Copyright © 1974 by Lipid Research, Inc.

A lipid-soluble antioxidant from polyallomer centrifuge tubes

Clyde E. Opliger , Peter C. Heinrich , and Robert E. Olson

Department of Biochemistry, St. Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63104 and Department of Vitamin and Nutrition Research, The Hoffmann-La Roche Laboratories, Basel, CH 4002, Switzerland

Santowhite, a commercial antioxidant used in the manufacture of polypropylene, contaminates 12-ml polyallomer tubes to the extent of 0.2-0.3 mg/tube. It is distributed through the plastic and appears as a microscopic dust on the tubes' surfaces. In the preparation of polysomes from rat liver by standard methods, approximately 15% of the antioxidant in previously water-washed tubes was removed by suspension of the polysome pellet with stirring in 1-2 ml of Tris buffer, pH 7.8. The polyallomer impurity has been shown to be identical with Santowhite, which is 4,4'-butylidene-bis(6-tert-butyl-m-cresol), by UV, mass, and NMR spectra. It is not uniformly removed from polyallomer tubes by common detergents but is removed by washing with acetone, to which the plastic is resistant.

Supplementary key words polysomes • Santowhite • lipid analysis

Submitted on August 22, 1973
Accepted on January 10, 1974

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