Radiophotosynthesis of some14C-labelled Amino Acids using the Unicellular Green AlgaScenedesmus acutus

Radiophotosynthesis has been carried out using the unicellular green algea Scenedesmus acutus grown, as a substrate for preparing some carbon-14 labelled amino acids. Gaseous 14CO2, in an air tight photosynthesis chamber or NaH14CO3 solution, in an ordinary photosynthesis chamber, were used as radioactive carbon sources. The yields, radiochemical yields and specific activities of the formed radioactive products are reported in both cases. The results obtained clearly showed the advantages of using the NaH14CO3 method. In that case the process was by far less tedious. Moreover, the chemical and radiochemical yields of the formed amino acids were relatively much more higher than the values obtained on using 14CO2 in the tight photosynthesis chamber.