Discovery of okadaic acid esters in the toxic dinoflagellate Dinophysis acuta from New Zealand using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

The dinoflagellate Dinophysis acuta has been associated with various incidents of diarrhetic shellfish poisoning. A sample of Dinophysis acuta collected from New Zealand waters in 2002 was previously found to contain high levels of pectenotoxins, but only a very low level of the diarrhea‐inducing okadaic acid (OA). After hydrolysis under basic conditions, however, the concentration of OA increased substantially, indicating the presence of conjugated forms of OA. Using various liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC/ESI‐MS/MS) techniques, a number of OA esters were detected in the original extract. The principal compound was identified as a C8 diol‐ester of OA (OA‐D8), which had been identified previously in another dinoflagellate, Prorocentrum lima. The retention time, as well as positive and negative ion MS, MS/MS and UV spectra of the D. acuta compound, matched exactly those of OA‐D8 isolated from P. lima. In addition to OA‐D8, several other novel OA esters were detected in the D. acuta but these have not yet been identified. This is the first report identifying the presence of OA esters in Dinophysis species. Copyright © 2004 Crown in the right of Canada. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.