Why is 137Cs strongly enriched in bay boletus but hardly at all in cepe? This question, which arose after the reactor accident at Chernobyl, can now be answered. It was already known that bay boletus contains the unusual pigments badione A and norbadione A in the brown pileus and that these pigments are absent in cepe. The cap pigments are present in the mushroom as potassium complexes. However, the pigments can also bind cesium. Norbadione forms a 1:1 complex with CsCl. This complex can be dissociated by exposure to a strongly acidic cation exchanger.

Warum wird 137Cs in Maronenröhrlingen stark, in Steinpilzen kaum gespeichert? Diese Frage, die sich nach dem Unfall im Kernkraftwerk Tschernobyl stellte, kann jetzt beantwortet werden. Es war bereits bekannt, daß Maronenröhrlinge in der braunen Huthaut die ungewöhnlichen Farbstoffe Badion A und Norabadion A enthalten, die bei den ebenfalls braunhäutigen Steinpilzen fehlen. Die Hutfarbstoffe liegen im Pilz als Kaliumkomplexe vor. Nun wurde gezeigt, daß die Farbstoffe auch Caesium zu binden vermögen. Norbadion A bildet mit CsCl einen 1:1‐Komplex, der durch einen stark sauren Kationenaustauscher zerlegt wird.

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ChemInform Abstract Investigations on the radionuclide content of mushrooms after the reactor accident of Tschernobyl have shown that the cep (Cerocomus badius) contained much more 137Cs than the closely related edible bolete (Boletus edulis). This is caused by the unusual pulvinic acid derivatives badion A (I) and norbadion A (II) which are present in the brown skin of the hat in the cep but are lacking in the edible bolete. Both these compounds (I) and (II) as a mixture form a complex with Cs. The bonding of Cs to (II) is confirmed in an independent experiment. The structure and the formation constant are hitherto unknown. Some other mushrooms, containing cap dyes of type (I) or (II) also strongly enrich 137Cs as, for example, the bolete "Flockenstieliger Hexenroehrling" (Boletus erythropus).