The occurrence and metabolism of carbon—halogen compounds

Abstract

An account of carbon-halogen compounds tends to become a series of generalizations. Thus our present information suggests that organic compounds containing covalently bound halogen are found only infrequently in living organisms, although the species known to elaborate these compounds span the Orders of the animal and plant kingdoms. Furthermore, the quantity of halometabolites produced can be influenced by the environment in which the organisms develop, but a low concentration of halide ion is not alone sufficient to restrict synthesis since certain species can strikingly accumulate halogens against adverse concentration gradients. Since such pronouncements rest upon limited experimental data, one must wonder just how restricted the distribution of this class of compounds would appear if a systematic survey of living organisms were made using more sophisticated methods for detecting halo-constituents.